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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 


PS3503 
.R367 
B6 
1923 


THE   BOOK 
OF  TODAY 


BY 


ARTHUR  BRISBANE 


ii' 


NEW  YORK 
INTERNATIONAL  MAGAZINE  COMPANY 

1924 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
INTERNATIONAL  MAGAZINE  COMPANY 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

FiPTY  Yeaes  Past — and  Fifty  to  Comb  .     .    t.j    i,,.    .    (.  7 

The  Snail  Goes  Like  a  Babbit  .     ;.     ..;    ,.    ■.„    m    ^    w    w  13 

The  Death  of  Enthusiasm       .     .     ,.    ,.     ,    i.,    ^    w    i.  20 

The  Span  of  Life  .     .     .     .     .     .     .     ,.:    :.     w    ^    ;.;    i..  26 

What  Animal  Controls  Your  Spirit?     .    :..     .    t.:    i.;    ■.  30 

Why  Is  Married  Life  Dull       .     .     >     .     i.     t.     ;.     r.:    >  34 

What  Are  We  Here  For!     ........     .     .     .  39 

** Throwing  Money  to  the  Birds — Sowing  Sorrow*'  .     .  44 

What  Kind  of  Blinders  Do  You  Wear?  .     .     .:    ;.     >     ..  50 

What  Sort  of  Ambition  Should  a  Man  Have?  ....  55 

The  Truth  Sets  You  Free 59 

Every  Day  That  the  Sun  Rises — This  World  Is  Better  65 

Are  You  One  of  Those  That  Push  the  World  Along?     .  71 

Poverty — the  Great  Curse 76 

The  Unknown  Land 81 

Keep  at  Your  Work  and  It  Will  Keep  You     ....  87 

Young  Men  Shall  See  Visions — Old  Men  Shall  Dream 

Dreams 91 

The  Importancje  of  Eeligion  in  :Man  . 96 

The  Desert  of  Time  Wasted    .     >     >     i..     .     .     ,.     ..     ..  102 

You  Must  Do  Your  Own  Climbing    >:     .     :.:    ..;    t.:    i.,    >  106 

Be  GeA-teful  to  the  Power  That  "Pulls'*  You    .    ,.    •.  110 

5 


pAoa 

Thought  and  Spisit  ...»     ..•*....     «  114 

Do  OuE  Souls  Comb  Back  and  Live  in  Other  Bodies!     .  121 

**Well,  It's  Just  a  Friendly  Game*'     .......  125 

Imagination  Is  Power     ...,„....„.  130 

We  Long  roa  Immortal  Imperteotion — We  Can^t  Hate  It  133 

The  Existence  or  God — ^Parable  op  the  Blind  Kittens    •  136 

Have  the  Animals  Souls?  .     .     .     .    *    ^     .     ;.,    ,^     ,  140 

Discontent  the  Motive  Power  of  Progress      :^    ^^    ;^    ^  142 

The  *' Criminal*'  Class       .     .     ^     ..*•..,     ,  145 

Who  Is  Independent?     Nobody     ,     .     .     «     *    ^^    ,,    „  150 

How  Marriage  Began      .     .     ^    ,m     .     m    ^    .     -.m    -.m    m  153 

Man's  Willingness  to  Work  •     *    ■.„    *«««.„  i58 

The  Three  Best  Things  in  the  World    ^    i..     ♦    «    ■•     .  160 

The  Value  of  Solitude  -     ...     ^     .*»«;.    ;^    ,^  164 

The  Value  of  Poverty  to  the  World      »    m    m    •     ^m    m  168 

Those  Who  Laugh  at  a  Drunken  Man    *«..;..  171 

Law  Cannot  Stop  Drunkenness — Education  Can       .     .  173 

Woman  Sustains,  Guides  and  Controls  the  World    .     «  175 

Two  Kinds  of  Discontent  .     .     ,     .     ^     .     „     .     .     .  177 

The  Earth  Is  Only  a  Front  Yard 180 

The  Cow  That  Kicks  Her  Weaned  Calf  Is  All  Heart  184 

Woman's  Vanity  Is  UsEruL     ^     .     ^    m    •    m    im    m    .«  188 

Too  Little  and  Too  Much    .     .    :„    m    m    m    m    m    m    i^  191 


< 


THE  BOOK  OF  TODAY. 


Fifty  Years  Past — and  Fifty  to  Come 

What  the  past  has  seen,  we  "know.    What  will  the  future  show? 

Millions  of  men  on  this  earth  remember  distinctly  the 
past  fifty  years,  and  their  fathers  remembered  fifty 
years  farther  back.  The  hundred  years  behind  us  have 
seen  a  complete  change  in  the  ways  of  human  beings 
and  in  the  world's  methods.  The  stage  coach  went, 
steam  cars  and  steamboats  came  in. 

The  telephone  has  come — conquering  space. 

The  wireless  telephone  and  telegraph  have  come — 
conquering  space  and  time. 

The  flying  machine  has  lifted  men  from  the  earth — 
conquering  the  law  of  gravitation. 

The  automobile  has  replaced  the  horse  on  city  streets, 
and  will  replace  it  on  the  farm. 

Electricity  has  lightened  the  labors  of  women,  sweep- 
ing, washing,  heating,  refrigerating,  sewing,  cooling, 
lighting,  driving  machines,  executing  convicts. 

Man,  born  with  ten  fingers,  provides  himself  through 
electricity  and  machinery  with  a  thousand  million 
fingers  of  steel. 


Women  vote,  the  law  allows  it. 

Men  have  no  right  to  drink,  the  Constitution  forbids 
it. 

Nations  gather  together  and  bargain,  as  individuals 

7 


used  to  do.  They  borrow  billions  from  each  other. 
They  do  not  keep  their  bargains  well,  and  do  not  repay 
the  billions  they  borrow.  But  there  is  at  least  a  start  in 
international  dealing  to  replace  international  war. 

Savages,  as  individuals,  when  they  first  bargained  and 
borrowed,  did  not  keep  their  bargains  or  repay  borrow- 
ings, either. 

Fifty  years  ago,  the  man  that  had  one  million  was 
looked  up  to — he  was  that  wonderful  thing,  * '  a  million- 
aire." Today,  a  man  with  an  annual  income  of  only 
one  million  is  not  *'so  very  rich."  One  man  among  us 
has  an  income  of  more  than  two  million  dollars  a  week. 
And  Henry  Ford,  who  manufactures  the  cheapest  thing 
in  his  line,  pays  to  the  Government  an  income  tax  of 
forty  millions  or  more  a  year. 

The  world  used  to  talk  of  millions,  and  hardly  be- 
lieved in  their  reality.  It  now  talks  of  billions.  A 
bonus  for  the  soldiers  will  require  five  billions.  Before 
the  Government  finishes  with  allowances  to  injured  sol- 
diers and  others  engaged  in  the  late  war,  it  will  spend 
probably  seventy-five  hillians.  Europe  owes  us  eleven 
billions — we  probably  shall  never  get  the  money. 

And  so  it  goes.  We  have  reached  the  age  of  the  bil- 
lionaire, with  the  billion  as  the  international  unit. 


The  last  fifty  years  have  been  years  of  big  things, 
built  up  by  the  power  of  big  crowds  working  together. 
But  the  individual  man  is  not  much  higger,  better  or 
happier  than  he  was.  The  Pacific  Ocean  is  big,  but  a 
drop  of  water  in  that  ocean  is  no  bigger  or  more  power- 
ful than  a  drop  of  water  in  your  wash  basin.  Men  are 
Btill  little  human  things,  drops  in  a  human  ocean  con- 

8 


stantly  getting  bigger  and  more  powerful,  but  the 
drops  not  changing  much  in  themselves. 

How  can  they  change?  How  can  the  individual  be 
made  greater,  his  life  more  complete,  worth  while? 
That  is  the  question  that  the  last  fifty  years  and  the 
last  thousand  centuries  have  done  little  to  answer. 

Man  has  discovered  radium  in  the  ground,  new  ele- 
ments in  nature,  new  metals,  new  forces.  But  he  has 
done  little  to  change  or  improve  himself.  It  is  probably 
true  that  the  average  intelligence  among  the  higher 
races  of  civilized  man  is  lower  today  than  it  was  among 
the  free  citizens  of  Athens  twenty-five  hundred  years 
ago. 


Scientifically  and  mechanically,  in  skill  and  in  under- 
standing of  our  surroundings,  from  the  oil  well  at  our 
feet  to  the  distant  nebula,  we  improve.  But  as  indi- 
viduals, as  a  human  race,  we  have  advanced  and  im- 
proved little. 

What  will  come  in  the  next  fifty  years,  or  the  next  cen- 
tury, the  period  that  will  be  lived  through  by  our  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren? 

There  will  be  talk  of  exhausted  coal  mines  and  oil 
wells.  That  will  mean  no  more  than  the  lack  of  whales 
means  now  to  our  lighting  system.  There  was  a  time 
when  men  worried  thinking  they  would  have  no  oil  for 
their  lamps,  and  go  back  to  tallow  candles,  if  the  whales 
were  all  killed  off.    Kerosene  and  electricity  settled  that. 

Before  coal  and  oil  are  gone,  men  will  harness  the 
tides,  the  power  of  the  sun  itself,  or  tap  hidden  fires  in 
the  earth  a  few  miles  below  our  xeet,  and  wonder  that 
their  ancestors  ever  dug  underground  for  coal. 

9 


Before  today's  children  are  old,  all  long  journeys 
across  the  ocean,  around  the  world,  will  be  made  in  fly- 
ing machines.  Men  will  easily  breakfast  in  Paris  and 
lunch  in  New  York  on  the  same  day. 

It  was  considered  marvelous  when  speaking  tubes 
first  enabled  the  lady  on  the  third  floor  to  listen  to  the 
other  lady  in  the  kitchen. 

In  place  of  these  speaking  tubes,  the  whole  world 
will  soon  be  using  the  * '  ether  lanes, ' '  and  opera  singers 
in  New  York  City  will  be  heard,  as  they  sing,  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Timbuctoo,  China,  Mesopotamia,  as  dis- 
tinctly as  by  Coney  Island. 

The  human  mind,  taking  everything  for  granted  after 
two  weeks,  will  think  nothing  of  it,  and  will  concentrate, 
as  is  usual,  on  the  triviality  that  is  new. 

AVe  shall  develop  mines  under  the  sea  with  submarines, 
irrigate  deserts  by  diverting  the  course  of  rivers  that 
now  waste  power  and  wealth,  washing  fertile  soil  out 
into  the  ocean.  Swamps  will  disappear,  improved  ma- 
chinery making  it  easy.  With  the  swamps  will  go  mos- 
quitoes and  the  diseases  that  they  spread. 

We  shall  build  cheap  houses,  liquid  stone  will  make 
that  possible. 

Improved  farm  machinery  will  solve  the  problem  of 
food  for  all  the  world's  population. 

Public  control  of  transportation,  ending  private  con- 
trol of  public  monopolies,  will  solve  distribution — and 
that  will  be  one  great  step  forward. 

The  world  has  already  solved  the  problem  of  produc- 
tion. We  have  water  for  the  dry  land,  knowledge  in  li- 
braries for  the  dry  brains,  factories  to  supply  all  goods 
needed,  distribution  is  lacking. 

Education  will  be  made  attractive,  instead  of  being 

10 


repulsive.  That  work  is  well  under  way  now.  It  has 
been  accomplished  largely  among  the  children  of  the 
rich. 

Most  important  of  all,  but  still  a  long  way  off,  lab&r 
will  he  made  attractive.  A  man's  life  is  made  up  of 
work,  and  ninety-nine  men  out  of  a  hundred  detest  the 
work  which  viakes  up  their  lives. 

Kings,  ten  thousand  years  ago,  anxious  to  win  their 
battles,  endeavored  to  make  the  work  of  the  soldier  at- 
tractive with  uniforms,  music,  loot,  and  special  privi- 
leges. 

Sooner  or  later  kings  of  industry  will  realize  that 
industry  can  be  made  attractive  just  as  easily  as  it  is 
now  made  repulsive,  and  at  the  same  time  made  more 
profitable  to  all. 

Men  will  work  willingly  and  gladly.  That  will  be 
another  great  step  forward. 


But  what  about  the  real  work  developing  latent  pow- 
ers within  the  human  mind  and  soul,  as  we  develop 
mines,  oil  wells,  water  power  and  scientific  machinery? 

That  will  come.  It  will  seem  slow  to  us,  but  it  will  not 
be  slow  in  reality.  How  much  has  been  achieved  since 
the  days  of  the  marvelously  intelligent  Greeks.  And  we 
are  separated  from  them  by  only  seventy-five  genera^ 
tions. 

What  are  seventy-five  generations?  The  death  of 
one  parent  and  the  birth  of  a  child  repeated  seventy-five 
times  take  us  back  beyond  the  birth  of  Christ. 

We  know  from  scientists  that  this  earth  will  last  as 
it  is  now,  suitable  for  the  habitation  of  men  for  at  least 
a  hundred  million  years,  probably  much  longer — barring 
«osmic  cataclysm,  such  as  collision  with  another  planet. 

11 


We  are  only  twelve  thousand  years  removed  from  the 
Stone  Age,  from  our  ancestor  with  the  brutal  jaw,  the 
two  inch  teeth,  the  one  inch  forehead. 

We  have  done  wonders  in  the  twelve  thousand  years. 
We  have  harnessed  lightning  that  our  ancestors  feared, 
once  we  bowed  down  and  worshipped  it,  now  it  sweeps 
the  floor  in  a  vacuum  cleaner. 

We  have  a  hundred  millions  of  years  to  do  other 
things,  feeble  imaginations  cannot  even  conceive  what 
the  hundred  million  years  will  show.  We  shall  talk 
to  the  other  planets,  as  many  of  them  within  our  solar 
system  as  have  thinking  beings  fully  developed. 

We  know  that  the  ether  which  permeates  all  space, 
carries  messages  as  well  as  any  wire. 


But  what  about  the  next  fifty  or  one  hundred  years, 
what  will  that  period  show? 

We  are  in  the  age  of  scientific  development  now,  as  we 
were  in  the  age  of  artistic  development  in  the  day  of 
Michael  Angelo. 

It  is  impossible  to  predict  or  even  to  imagine  what 
the  short  space  of  a  hundred  years  may  produce. 

If  twenty-five  years  ago  a  man  had  predicted  the  fly- 
ing machine  as  an  accomplished  fact,  wireless  telegra- 
phy, an  opera  singer  in  New  York  heard  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, such  a  man  would  have  been  called  crazy. 

What  is  the  use  of  guessing? 

"It  hath  not  been  shown  what  we  shall  be." 

The  main  thing  is  for  each  man  to  live  earnestly,  think 
earnestly,  do  the  best  that  he  can. 

All  the  power  of  Niagara  is  simply  the  combined  power 
of  tiny  drops  falling  from  a  certain  height. 

12 


The  Snail  Goes  Like  a  Rabbit 

This  is  perhaps  the  oldest  editorial  in  the  world.  The  cave  man 
recited  it  to  his  son  when  he  told  him  how  to  hunt  for  his  prey. 
The  squaws  out  West  told  it  to  their  little  papooses  as  soon  as 
they  were  old  enough  to  listen.  Lord  Chesterfield  wrote  it  to  his 
boy.  Every  mother  in  the  country  impresses  it  upon  her  children 
once  a  month.  Yet,  over  and  over,  the  same  thing  needs  to  be 
said.  Meet  opportunity  when  it  comes  toward  you.  If  you  wait 
until  it  passes,  you  will  never  catch  it. 

Opportunity  comes  like  a  snail,  and  once  it  has  passed 
you  it  changes  into  a  fleet  rabbit  and  is  gone. 


"What  is  opportunity?  It  is  the  chance  to  do  some- 
thing, to  get  something,  to  achieve  something,  to  climb 
out  of  the  rut.    To  he  somebody  of  value  in  the  world. 

Opportunity  is  life  itself.  That  which,  we  call 
conscientiousness,  or  soul,  or  thought,  can  be  imagined 
floating  in  infinite  space  without  any  material  body  to 
bring  it  in  contact  with  the  world. 

Then  thought  is  put  into  the  body.  The  body  is  able 
to  do  its  part  in  a  world  of  solid  matter,  and  of  other 
bodies.    And  with  the  coming  of  life  opportuniiy  comes. 


There  are  millions  of  opportunities  around  us  every 
day.  Some  we  see,  and  know  that  they  are  beyond  us, 
or  believe  that  they  are  beyond  us,  and  do  not  try. 

Others  we  see,  and  look  upon  them  as  beneath  us — 
and  in  considering  an  opportunity  too  low,  we  often 
miss  the  opportunity  that  is  the  best. 

13 


One  man  who  began  poor  and  died  very  ricli,  in  Chi- 
cago, had  a  little  stand  on  the  street  and  sold  fruit.  He 
saw  an  opportunity  to  add  dried  fruit  to  his  fresh  fruit, 
and  he  did  that. 

He  saw  the  opportunity  to  add  part  of  a  window  to  his 
little  fruit  stand,  and  to  have  tea  and  coffee  for  sale  in 
small,  neat  packages.    He  did  that. 

He  died  the  biggest  coffee  man  in  the  country,  with 
more  millions  than  he  needed.  Standing  in  front  of  his 
cheap,  rickety  fruit  stand,  he  saw  opportunity  coming 
and  he  was  ready  for  it. 


Thomas  A.  Edison  sat  at  his  key,  sending  telegraph 
messages  like  millions  of  others. 

His  brain  enabled  him  to  see  an  opportunity,  which 
was  the  sending  of  more  than  one  message  over  the 
same  wire. 

He  didn't  simply  think  about  it,  speculate  about  it, 
and  drop  it.    Ee  made  it  a  reality. 

AVhen  opportunity  came  crawling  toward  Edison  it 
found  him  ready. 

That  is  why  everybody  in  the  world  knows  about 
Thomas  A.  Edison. 


In  youth  we  have  the  opportunity  to  absorb  informa- 
tion, and  in  mature  years  we  have  the  opportunity  to 
use  it. 

Too  often  we  neglect  the  opportunity  in  youth  and 
spend  the  later  years  regretting  that  the  opportunity  was 
neglected. 

In  a  million  ways  men  achieve  success,  big  or  little. 

14 


One  becomes  rich  and  useful  because  he  sees  the 
possibility  of  building  a  railroad  across  the  continent, 
or  because,  like  Cecil  Rhodes,  his  mind  can  carve  out  an 
empire  in  Africa. 

Another  simply  sees  the  opportunity  of  putting  one 
dollar  on  top  of  another,  getting  more  dollars  as  rapidly 
as  possible,  keeping  them  all  and  spending  none. 


There  is  something  almost  human  and  intelligent, 
something  mysteriously  knowing  in  opportunity. 

It  comes  toward  you  so  very  slowly  that  you  can't 
help  seeing  it,  if  you  vnll  see  it.  It  creeps  up  like  a  snail, 
it  passes  you,  it  seems  to  make  up  its  mind  that  you  are 
not  the  person  to  seize  opportunity,  and  it  is  gone  in  a 
second. 

Some  of  us  miss  opportunity  because  we  are  too  dull 
to  try.  Others  let  opportunity  go  by,  too  much  startled 
when  they  see  it  to  take  hold  of  it. 

We  are  like  the  man  who  sees  his  first  deer  in  the 
forest  and  forgets  to  use  his  gun. 


Fortunately,  a  long  procession  of  slowly  moving  op- 
portunities meets  all  of  us.  And  fortunately,  also,  in 
some  form,  opportunity  is  before  us  all  the  time. 

The  commonest  form,  one  most  often  neglected,  and 
the  safest  opportunity  for  the  average  man  to  seize,  is 
hard  work. 

There  is  scarcely  a  sane,  average,  moderately  healthy 
human  being  that  could  not  end  life  comfortable  and 
prosperous,  if  he  would  seize  the  two  possibilities  always 
with  us — hard  work  and  economy. 

15 


Health  means  power,  and  power  means  opportunity." 

Every  one  of  us  can  improve  his  health  if  he  will. 
Sensible  living,  temperate  eating  and  drinking,  regular 
sleep,  \rithout  added  expense,  will  increase  health,  power 
and  opportunity. 

Information  gives  the  power  that  brings  opportunity. 
The  books  are  in  the  libraries.  We  can  all  read  and  learn 
if  we  will.  How  many  young  men  can  truly  say  that 
they  do  not  throw  away  every  day  two  hours?  Two 
hours  a  day  in  j&ve  years  will  make  an  educated  man, 
one  able  to  seize  an  opportunity  when  he  sees  it. 

In  our  life  of  money  making  and  commercial  strug- 
gling opportunity  very  often  comes  labelled  with  this 
little  sign:  **I  am  for  the  man  who  has  saved  up  a  little 
money. ' ' 

Many  a  man  has  missed  his  opportunity  because  he 
hadn't  the  thousand  dollars  or  the  five  hundred  dollars 
that  the  opportunity  called  for. 

How  many  men  are  there  that  can  really  say  that  it  is 
impossible  for  them  to  save  five  hundred  dollars?  You 
can't  save  it  this  week,  or  this  year,  or  next  year  per- 
haps. But  you  can  save  it.  And  once  you  have  money 
in  your  pocket,  money  that  is  yours,  money  over  and 
above  aU  your  debts,  many  an  opportunity  that  goes 
around  you  will  come  straight  toward  you.  Only  be 
sure  that  it  is  an  opportunity,  and  not  somebody  more 
cunning  than  yourself  who  sees  the  opportunity  in  you 
and  your  gwilelessness. . . 


To  see  and  seize  opportunity  the  mind  must  be  free 
from  rubbish  and  useless  lumber.  If  you  are  thinking  of 
your  own  misfortunes,  about  your  qualities  that  are  not 

16 


President  Calvin  Coolidge 


"Every  boy,  young  man  and  young  nvoman 
should  have  ambition  to  understand  public 
affairs,  and  if  possible,  to  influence  them." 

Calvin  Coolidge,  an  average  American  boy, 
had  that  ambition.  When  opportunity  came  it 
found  him  ready  for  the  greatest  fob  in  the 
'world.  {See  page  57] 


appreciated,  about  your  high  deserts  and  nobility  of 
soul,  your  nose  will  be  in  the  air,  and  your  eyes  won't  be 
on  the  ground  when  opportunity  comes  crawling  along. 


Free  your  mind  from  rubbish,  especially  from  self- 
complacency  and  self -approval. 

Say  to  yourself:  ''The  world  is  full  of  opportunity; 
the  men  that  have  succeeded  had  no  better  chance  than 
I.  They  succeeded  because  they  saw  opportunity,  seized 
it,  and  hung  on  to  it. 

*^If  I  don't  succeed  it  is  because  I  have  not  deserved 
to  succeed.  If  I  have  not  seized  any  good  opportunities 
in  life,  it  is  not  because  the  opportunities  have  all  gone 
the  other  way  and  have  never  passed  me.  Hundreds 
have  passed  me.  It  is  time  now  for  me  to  seize  the  next 
one  that  comes  along." 

The  man  who  stops  blaming  conditions,  blaming  gov- 
ernment, blaming  others,  his  relatives,  his  employers, 
his  friends,  and  who  blames  himself,  is  the  man  that 
will  seize  and  use  the  next  opportunity  that  comes. 


There  never  lived  a  man  who  ** never  had  a  chance." 
Only  a  man  born  an  idiot  can  say  truly  that  he  has  had 
no  opportunity.  The  trouble  is  that  too  many  insist 
on  saying  what  hind  of  an  opportunity  it  shall  be,  and 
when  it  shall  come. 

If  you  see  four  boys  together,  three  of  them  smoking 
cigarettes  and  one  not  smoking,  you  know  that  one  of 
them  has  a  better  chance  than  the  others. 

You  may  see  a  half  dozen  young  men  working  in 
stores,  five  of  them  complaining  about  the  public,  about 

17 


hard  ^-ork  and  long  hours,  and  the  sixth  saying  to 
himself:  *'If  I  can't  succeed  as  an  employee  I  shall 
never  succeed  as  an  employer." 

If  you  find  the  five  pitj^ing  themselves  and  the  sixth 
determined  to  do  what  is  good  for  him,  you  know  the 
sixth  is  the  one  that  will  take  opportunity  when  it  comes, 
for  he  has  already  taken  the  opportunity  of  making  him- 
self a  worker. 


Be  ready. 

The  way  to  be  ready  is  to  be  at  work.  Opportunity 
comes  to  the  worker,  not  to  the  idler  who  is  waiting  for 
opportunity  to  come. 

Edison  was  working  at  his  key  when  his  thought  and 
his  opportunity  came  to  him. 

Newton  was  not  lounging,  idling,  when  the  apple 
fell.  He  was  thinking  on  the  problem  of  gravitation  and 
falling  bodies.  And  when  the  apple  fell — assuming 
that  old  story  to  be  true — he  combined  the  happening 
with  his  thought  and  his  work,  and  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity to  solve  the  greatest  problem  in  celestial  me- 
chanics. 

In  every  shop,  every  store,  every  farm,  there  is  op- 
portunity. 

If  your  work  is  bad,  if  your  employer  is  bad,  you  can 
watch  for  the  opportunity  to  get  out.  But  be  sure  that 
you  get  the  opportunity.  Wait  until  it  ccmves.  To  drop 
one  thing  until  you  have  another  is  one  of  the  shortest 
roads  to  failure. 


Any  kind  of  work  is  a  gymnasium  in  which  you  de- 
velop your  own  power  and  talent. 

Success  depends  on  being  exact,  industrious,  intelli- 

18 


gent,  obliging,  practical.  You  can  develop  the  good 
qualities  inside  of  yourself  just  as  well  in  the  humblest 
work  as  in  the  highest  work.  A  young  man  working 
as  street  ear  conductor  has  just  as  many  opportunities 
of  understanding  human  beings,  which  help  to  real  suc- 
cess as  the  president  of  the  railroad,  hidden  away  in  his 
big"  office. 


Some  of  us  are  old,  some  young,  and  some  in  the 
doldrums  of  middle  age.  But  none  of  us  is  too  old  for 
opportunity,  if  we  will  see  it  and  take  it. 

Every  year  means  365  new  opportunities.  Every  day 
means  opportunity,  every  hour  means  possibility  of  good 
work,  of  foolishness  abandoned. 

Five  minutes  of  earnest  thought  and  self-analysis  may 
mean  years  of  comfort  and  useful  work  hereafter. 


Fathers  and  mothers,  don't  frighten  your  children. 
To  kill  a  child's  courage  is  to  kill  his  future  chance. 


Spending  money,  reasonably,  in  accordance  with  your 
means  is  wise  and  useful. 


19 


The  Death  of  Enthusiasm 

**Kothinsr  gre^t  was  ever  achieved  without  enthtisiasm." — 
Emerson,  Enthusiasm,  a  word  that  combines  amtition,  courage, 
detcrmitujtion  and  a  hundred  other  words,  is  to  the  human  being 
what  steam  is  to  the  engine.  When  enthusia,S7n  dies,  the  man  is 
dead,  and  hope  has  left  Mm.  He  may  live  on,  apparently,  but  the 
real  man  is  gone. 

Enthusiasm  is  the  power  and  the  health  of  the  mind. 
It  is  youth,  ambition,  vrUl. 

Man  lives  and  is  worth  while  as  long  as  his  enthusiasm 
lives. 

And  when  enthusiasm  dies,  he  dies — although  he  may 
not  know  it. 


We  all  travel  a  certain  distance  upward  along  the 

road  of  life. 

Enthusiasm  is  the  force  that  drives  us. 

At  one  end  of  the  long  road  is  the  cradle,  where  we 
get  our  start  and  our  teeth.  At  the  other  end  that  vague 
temple  called  Success — and  just  beyond  it  the  grave, 
where,  without  teeth,  we  lie  down  and  are  forgotten. 

Why  we  start,  why  we  climb,  what  the  power  that 
drives  us  toward  the  shining  temple,  we  do  not  know. 

All  except  perhaps  one  in  a  million  fail,  grow  tired, 
sit  down  to  rest  like  the  man  in  the  picture. 

Then  hope  flies  away,  and  that  is  the  death  of  en- 
thusiasm. 


Dante,  one  of  the  world's  three  greatest  writers — 
Homer  and  Shakespeare  being  the  other  two — showed  in 

20 


his  dreadful  hell  the  spirits  of  men  still  living  upon 
the  earth.  Their  bodies  lived  on  the  earth's  surface, 
bat  the  soul  was  down  below. 

You  should  read,  if  you  have  not  read,  the  wonderful 
pictures  drawn  by  that  Italian  imagination  without  an 
equal. 

Dante,  conducted  by  Virgil,  gets  to  the  bottom  of  hell, 
where  everything  is  frozen  solid  by  the  flapping  of  the 
gigantic  wings  of  Satan.  Satan  himself  is  buried  *'at 
mid  breast"  in  the  ice  that  holds  him  fast,  and  flaps  his 
wings  through  all  eternity  in  the  vain  effort  to  free  him- 
self, while  the  freezing  tears  run  from  his  six  eyes,  and 
each  of  his  three  mouths  chews  a  miserable  sinner. 

A  horrible  monster  to  look  upon  was  that  Satan,  his 
three  faces — one  vermilion,  one  yellow,  the  third  black 
— his  arms  as  big  as  giants  and  in  each  of  his  three 
mouths  '*a  sinner  champ 'd  bruised  as  with  ponderous 


engine." 


As  Dante  looked,  the  three  sinners  held  in  the  teeth  of 
Satan  were  Judas  Iscariot,  Brutus  and  Cassius.  Well 
might  Dante  exclaim:  ''Oh,  what  a  sight!"  Well  may 
the  world  wonder  that  in  Dante 's  day  nearly  all  men  be- 
lieved, and  even  in  our  day  a  few  million  of  the  ignorant, 
superstitious  still  believe  in  such  a  monster. 

Before  he  had  looked  upon  Satan  Dante  saw  a  mis- 
erable creature,  his  eyes  covered  with  ice,  begging  that 
the  ice  might  be  removed  for  a  moment  ''that  I  may 
vent  the  grief  impregnate  at  my  heart  some  little  space 
eri»  it  congeal  again. '  ^ 

Dante  told  the  poor  sufferer  that  if  he  would  tell  who 
he  was  he  would  brush  the  ice  from  his  eyes.  And 
the  man  said  that  he  was  Alberigo,  who  had  called  his 

21 


associates  together  and  poisoned  them.  Leigh  Hunt  re- 
writes the  incident  thus : 

^^'What!'  exclaimed  Dante,  *art  thou  no  longer, 
then,  among  the  living?' 

**  'Perhaps  I  appear  to  be,'  answered  the  friar; 
*for  the  moment  any  one  commits  a  treachery  like  mine 
his  soul  gives  up  his  body  to  a  demon,  who  thence- 
forward inhabits  it  in  the  man's  likeness.  Thou  know- 
est  Branca  Doria,  who  murdered  his  father-in-law, 
Zanche?  He  seems  to  be  walking  the  earth  still,  and 
yet  he  has  been  in  this  place  many  years.' 

** 'Impossible,'  cried  Dante;  'Branca  Doria  is  still 
alive ;  he  eats,  drinks  and  sleeps  like  any  other  man. ' 

*'  *I  tell  thee,'  returned  the  friar,  'that  the  soul  of  the 
man  he  slew  had  no  sooner  reached  that  lake  of  boiling 
pitch  in  which  thou  sawest  him  ere  the  soul  of  his  slayer 
was  in  this  place,  and  his  body  occupied  by  a  demon  in 
its  stead.    But  now  stretch  forth  thy  hand  and  relieve 


mine  eves.'  " 


Dante,  whose  ferocity  was  as  great  as  his  genius,  re- 
fused to  help  the  miserable  sinner  who  begged  "But 
now  put  forth  thy  hand  and  ope  mine  eyes.'*  Says 
Dante :  "  I  oped  them  not.  Ill  manners  were  best  cour- 
tesy to  him." 


We  do  not  believe,  as  the  ancient  believed  and  as 
Dante  taught — although  he  was  too  intelligent  to  believe 
in  hell's  superstition — that  men's  bodies  walk  up  and 
down  on  this  earth  after  their  souls  have  been  taken 
below  for  perpetual  torment. 

"We  know  there  is  a  death  in  the  body  which  is  in- 

22 


finitely  worse  than  the  real  death  which  sets  a  man  free 
and  ends  his  responsibilities. 

The  death  of  enthusiasm  is  the  greatest  possible 
calamity — fight  against  it. 

Enthusiasm  is  hope,  confidence  in  yourself,  courage, 
a  determination  to  succeed,  or,  at  least,  to  struggle  on 
tryiiig. 

Said  Goethe:  ** Money  lost,  something  lost. 

"Honor  lost,  much  lost. 

'  *  Courage  lost,  everything  lost — better  you  were  never 
born." 

Enthusiasm  includes  courage  in  its  meaning.  En- 
thusiasm lost,  everything  lost — better  you  were  never 
born. 


"What  shall  a  man  do  who  feels  courage  gradually 
leaving  him  and  doubt,  worry  creeping  in? 

Can  enthusiasm  be  kept  alive  in  spite  of  disappoint- 
ments, in  spite  of  the  disillusion  that  follows  effort  ? 

That  each  man  must  find  out  for  himself. 

Life  grows  wearisome.  Every  year  seems  like  an- 
other mile  in  a  long  race. 

Others  fly  past  us.  We  seem  to  stand  still.  En- 
thusiasm flickers  in  the  early  morning,  fades  away  by 
noon,  gloom  and  depression  finish  the  day. 

What  can  a  man  do  who  feels  enthusiasm  dying  within 
him,  who  remembers  with  a  bitter  smile  the  hope  of  his 
boyhood  and  his  impatience  to  meet  the  world? 

What  cure  is  there  for  the  deadly  disease  worse  than 
death,  the  disease  that  the  doctors  do  not  know,  the  dis- 
ease of  dying  enthusiasm  that  attacks  nearly  all  men 
before  they  die,  and  a  majority  before  they  are  thirty? 

23 


Wh^t  can  we  do  to  keep  entJixisiasm  alive?  We  can  at 
least  talk  to  ourselves  earnestly  and  determinedly,  as 
we  would  talk  to  a  man  sitting  dejected  on  the  roadside. 
To  him  we  should  say : 

**Get  up  and  walk  on.  You  have  every  chance  nova 
that  you  ever  had. 

**You  are  older  than  some  who  have  succeeded,  true. 
But  many  succeed  when  much  older  than  you  and  after 
discouragements  much  greater  than  yours. 

'  *  You  have  been  so  discouraged  that  you  have  thought 
of  suicide.  What  of  it?  In  all  the  list  of  the  world's 
greatest  successes  there  is  probably  not  one  but  has 
felt  as  you  feel — longed  for  death,  and  been  tempted  to 
seek  it. 

** Don't  let  the  work  that  you  have  done  already  go  to 
(^aste. 

''Don't  moan  over  time  wasted.  Let  the  thought  of 
that  time  drive  you  to  use  the  time  that  remains. 

*  *  The  road  is  no  steeper  or  rougher  than  it  used  to  be. 
Thousands  with  more  cause  of  complaint  are  struggling 
on,  refusing  to  give  up  hope." 


Hope  goes  but  can  be  called  back.  Enthusiasm  dies 
out,  but  it  can  be  made  strong  again. 

Age  is  no  bar  to  success  if  the  enthusiasm  is  there. 

Weakness  does  not  prevent  success  if  only  the  body 
is  weak.  It  is  weak  courage  that  keeps  men  sitting 
down  as  failures  when  they  should  be  going  ahead  trav- 
eling the  road. 

The  trouble  in  the  average  man  is  not  lack  of  ability, 
intelligence,  strength  or  health.  It  is  lack  of  the  courage 
that  comes  from  enthusiasm. 

24 


"Watch  yourself  and  that  power  within  yon.  With 
enthusiasm  really  dead  and  gone,  your  body  lives  still 
upon  this  earth,  but,  like  the  miserable  creatures  in 
Dante 's  Inferno,  the  real  you  is  not  here. 

Courage  is  the  man,  and  a  man  without  courage  is 
dead. 


The  only  real  wealth  is  human  labor.  If  you  don't 
waste  that,  nothing  matters.  Be  as  big  a  fool  as  you  like, 
with  your  money. 


To  let  hatred  sink  too  deeply  into  the  mind  and  heart 
is  bad  for  the  hater. 


Of  one  thing  be  sure,  young  gentlemen:  this  and  the 
next  few  years  hold  great  possibilities  for  those  that  now 
have  little.  When  the  water  is  rough  and  weather  un- 
certain, look  out  for  valuable  wreckage  coming  ashore. 
Of  those  that  have,  many  will  have  left  little  or  nothing 
before  long.  Changed  and  changing  conditions  will 
develop  a  new  crop  of  the  prosperous.  Things  will  have 
to  be  done  in  a  new  way,  the  man  with  the  new  idea 
will  have  a  chance. 


% 


The  Span  of  Life 

Life  is  a  short  walk  along  a  narrow  thread  of  destiny,  hegin^ 
ning  and  ending  in  a  mysterioiLS  unTcnown,  Hope  Iceeps  us  hal- 
anced  as  we  xcallc  the  narrow  line.  Life  is  short  as  we  see  it,  'but 
in  reality  it  is  without  beginning,  and  never  ends — and,  long  or 
short,  it  is  all  that  we  have. 

You  are  the  figure  walking  on  a  slender  thread.  Each 
of  us  walks  alone  and  must  balance  himself  through 
life.  Many  millions  walk  but  a  few  steps  and  fall  back 
into  the  ii  finite  whence  they  came.  Other  millions  walk 
half  or  three-quarters  of  the  way — a  small  percentage 
finish  the  full  natural  span  of  a  normal  life. 

Hesitating,  balancing,  leaning  to  this  side  and  to  that 
side,  you  go  along  the  span  that  leads  from  birth  to 
death. 


This  is  a  subject  about  which  all  the  writers  have 
written,  all  the  poets  have  sung,  all  the  philosophers 
have  speculated,  and  all  the  law  makers  have  legislated. 

We  have  all  got  to  take  the  journey,  walk  the  span, 
whether  we  like  it  or  not.  We  are  not  asked  when  we 
come  here  whether  we  want  to  come.  And  it  is  not  left 
to  us  to  say  when  we  shall  go.  We  come  without  know- 
ing why,  we  go  without  knowing  why,  and  we  travel 
our  journey  balanced  on  a  thread  stretched  between 
the  finger  and  thumb  of  Destiny. 


We  are  not,  however,  mere  machines  wound  up  and 
set  in  motion.     Something  is  left  to  our  own  decision. 

26 


"We  get  an  inheritance  from  fathers  and  mothers  through 
thousands  of  generations,  and  it  is  true  that  we  can 
have  only  what  they  give  us. 

But  we  have  above  everything,  and  in  addition  to 
everything,  mil  power,  the  power  of  thought  based  on 
observation  and  guided  by  conscience. 

We  can  use  our  character  and  temperament  as  the 
sculptor  uses  the  block  of  marble,  and  we  can  carve  in- 
heritance as  we  will  and  at  least  make  of  it  the  best 
that  it  can  produce. 

This  you  see  illustrated  in  the  portraits  of  human 
beings  taken  in  childhood  and  in  old  age.  You  may  find 
two  pictures  of  children  much  alike — the  faces  filled 
with  goodness,  cheerfulness,  kindness  and  hope. 

And  the  same  two  faces  in  old  age  will  be  as  far  apart 
as  vice  and  kindness.  One  will  have  grown  stronger 
and  better,  and  the  other  will  show  the  stamp  of  the 
evil  thoughts  and  the  uncontrolled  passions  and  wasted 
will  power. 


Those  that  are  most  fortunate  among  men  are  able,  in 
the  brief  span  of  life,  to  accomplish  work  that  lasts  for 
centuries,  helping  others  that  follow  on  the  shaky  walk 
across  the  taut  thread.  Some  have  been  able,  in  one 
life,  to  benefit  endless  millions  of  lives  after  them.  These 
have  been  the  great  teachers,  discoverers,  explorers, 
scientists,  philosophers — and,  above  all,  the  fearless 
tellers  of  new  truths. 

Blessed  are  those  able  to  do  in  one  life  a  work  that 
will  help  hundreds  of  millions. 

But  there  is  good  work  that  every  human  being  can 
do,  there  are  rules  that  all  can  follow^  and  each  man, 


as  he  walks  life's  thread,  should  make  these  rules  for 
himself  and  follow  them. 


Do  your  duty  as  well  as  you  can  do  it — and  be^n 
by  not  hurting  others  in  the  effort  to  please  or  help  your«. 
self. 

The  first  duty  is  to  those  nearest  you.  If  every  man 
of  strength  would  help  the  half-dozen  human  beings 
nearest  to  him  the  problems  of  the  world  would  soon  be 
settled.  The  help  must  be  of  the  right  kind,  not  merely 
charity — although  that  is  needed — but  also  sympathy, 
a  good  example,  patience  with  weakness  and  dullness, 
and  just  dealings  even  with  those  that  are  unjust. 

Each  can  do  his  duty,  and  he  who  does  that  has  done 
all  that  can  be  asked  and  all  that  any  man  ever  did  since 
the  worM  began. 


Life  is  troublesome,  full  of  care,  disappointment  and 
bitterness  for  those  that  carry  responsibility  and  realize 
their  shortcomings.  But  it  has  its  reward  as  great  as  its 
worries. 

To  possess  the  friendship  and  affection  of  one  sincere, 
loyal  human  being,  to  put  the  welfare  of  another  ahead 
of  your  own,  finding  happiness  in  that,  and,  when  you 
reach  the  end  of  the  string  and  the  time  comes  to  fall 
off  into  the  grave,  to  feel  that  you  have  done  what  you 
could,  have  not  neglected  those  that  had  a  right  to  count 
upon  you — that  makes  life  worth  while  and  wines  out 
»ts  (^ 'sappointments. 

28 


What  every  man  must  learn  unless  life  is  to  be  a  fail- 
ure is  to  control  himself  and  put  his  selfish  desires  and 
feelings  in  second  place. 

The  man  who  controls  himself  through  his  will,  who 
realizes  that  the  shortness  of  life  increases  responsibility 
for  the  use  of  every  hour,  and  who  finally  lives,  day  by 
day,  as  he  would  live  if  he  knew  that  that  day  was  the 
last — such  a  man  is  happy  and  his  life  worth  while. 

*'He  that  is  slow  to  anger  is  better  than  the  mighty; 
and  he  that  ruleth  his  spirit  than  he  that  taketh  a  city. '  * 
—Proverbs  XVI.,  32. 


Ill-temper  begets  ill-temper  and  poisons  the  nerves. 
When  you  are  impolite  to  others,  or  angry,  you  poison 
yourself. 


ASK  THE  WOMAN 
Man  is  by  nature  unreasonable,  every  woman  knows  it. 


TOMBSTONE   AND   CEMETERY  FENCE 

A  tombstone  is  a  queer  thing,  something  like  a  fence 
around  a  cemetery. 

If  you  amount  to  anything,  you  don't  need  a  tomb- 
stone. If  you  don't  amount  to  anything,  a  tombstone 
won't  do  you  any  good. 

The  fence  around  a  cemetery  is  foolish  because  those 
inside  can't  get  out,  and  those  outside  don't  want  to  get 
in. 

29 


What  Animal  Controls 
Your  Spirit? 

Our  good  and  our  had  qualities  are  mapped  out  in  our  humhle 
animal  relations. 

Of  all  animals  upon  earth  man  came  last. 

All  earth's  animal  creations  are  bound  up  in  man. 

As  to  the  first  statement  there  is  no  difference  of 
opinion. 

The  Bible  and  Darwin  agree  that  man  was  created 
last  of  all  the  animals. 

Very  superficial  observation  will  convince  you  that 
man  contains  in  his  mental  make-up  all  the  ** inferior" 
animals,  or  at  least  many  of  them. 

You,  Mr.  Jones,  or  Smith,  who  read  this  are  in  your 
single  self  a  sort  of  mental  zoological  garden. 

If  you  could  be  divided  into  your  component  animal 
parts  there  would  be  a  menagerie  in  your  house,  and 
you,  Smith  or  Jones,  would  be  missing.  That  thing 
we  call  a  "soul"  would  be  floating  around,  impalpable, 
looking  for  its  house. 

You  see  the  animal  make-up  in  your  neighbor  more 
readily  than  in  yourself. 

How  do  men  describe  each  other?  Do  they  not  speak 
as  follows,  and  mean  exactly  what  they  say? 

*  *  He  is  as  sly  as  a  fox. '  * 

**He  eats  like  a  pig." 

"He  has  dog-like  faithfulness." 

"He  is  as  brave  as  a  lion." 

30 


**He  is  as  treacherous  as  a  snake.'* 
*'He  was  as  hungry  as  a  wolf/'  etc. 


Our  good  and  bad  qualities  alike  are  mapped  out  in 
our  humble  animal  relations. 

The  horse  stands  for  ambition,  which  strives  and  suf- 
fers in  silence;  drive  a  horse  to  death  and  it  utters  no 
sound.  The  dog  represents  friendship,  which  suffers 
and  sacrifices  much,  but  whines  loudly  when  injured. 

No  doubt  each  of  the  twelve  passions  that  enter  into 
Fourier's  complex  analysis  of  man  each  has  its  prototype 
in  some  one  animal. 


To  rebel  at  the  animal  combination  which  makes  up  a 
man  would  be  folly. 

The  Maker  of  us  all,  from  ants  to  anti-imperialists, 
naturally  gathered  together  the  various  parts  in  lower 
animal  form  before  finishing  the  work  in  man. 

A  harmoniously  balanced  mixture  of  all  the  animals 
is  calculated  undoubtedly  to  produce  the  perfect  man. 


Therefore,  study  your  animal  make-up.  Analyze  hon- 
estly and  intelligently  the  so-called  '* lower"  creatures 
from  whom  you  derive  your  mental  characteristics.  If 
you  have  not  yet  done  so,  study  at  once  some  good  work 
on  embryology,  and  learn  with  amazement  and  awe  of 
your   marvelous  transformations   before  birth. 

Then  do  your  best  to  control  the  menagerie  that  is  at 
work  in  your  mind.  Discourage  Mr.  Pig,  if  he  is  too 
prominent.  Circumvent  Mr.  Fox,  if  he  tries  to  rule  you 
and  make  of  you  a  mere  cunning  machine.    Do  not  let 

31 


your  Old  Dog  Tray  qualities  of  friendship  lead  to  your 
being  made  a  fool. 

In  short,  study  carefully  the  animal  qualities  that 
make  up  your  temperament  and  prove  in  your  own  per- 
son the  falseness  of  Napoleon's  irritating  statement  that 
a  man's  temperament  can  never  be  changed  by  himself. 

It  may  interest  you  to  note  that  when  man  becomes 
insane  the  fact  is  at  once  made  apparent  that  his  mind 
had  acted  as  a  ruler  of  a  savage  menagerie.  Many  crazy 
men  imagine  themselves  animals  of  one  sort  or  another. 
Nearly  all  of  them  display  the  grossest  animal  qualities, 
once  their  mind  is  deranged.  Women  of  the  greatest  re- 
finement sink  into  dreadful  animalism  when  insane. 
Heine  tells  of  a  constable  who,  in  his  boyhood,  ruled  his 
native  city.  One  fine  day  **this  constable  suddenly  went 
crazy,  •  ♦  ♦  and  thereupon  he  began  to  roar  like  a  lion 
or  squall  like  a  cat.'' 

Heine  remarks  with  calculated  naivete:  **We  little 
boys  were  greatly  delighted  at  the  old  fellow,  and 
trooped,  yelling,  after  him  until  he  was  carried  off  t^ 
a  madhouse." 

There  is,  by  the  way,  much  of  the  natural  animal  ij^ 
** little  boys."  It  takes  years  to  make  a  fairly  reason- 
able creature  of  a  young  human.  For  that  reason  many 
ignorant  parents  are  foolishly  distressed  at  juvenile 
displays  of  animalism,  which  are  perfectly  natural. 

The  same  Heine,  whose  writings  you  ought  not  to 
neglect,  describes  beautifully  a  human  menagerie.  Heine 
was  living  in  Paris  in  the  forties  of  the  19th  century, 
and  used  to  visit  a  curious  revolutionary  freak  named 
Ludwig  Borne.     Of  this  man's  house  Heine  wrote: 

**I  found  in  his  salon  such  a  menagerie  of  people  as 
can  hardly  be  found  in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  (the  Paris 

32 


Mrs.  Calvin  Coolidge 


"Some  one  must  be  patient,  hopeful,  interest- 
ed, proud,  always  devoted."  Mrs.  Coolidge, 
first  lady  of  the  land,  has  never  been  too  proud 
to  be  her  husband's  helpmate — and  even  today 
in  the  fVhite  House,  she  appreciates  the  im- 
portance  of   being  a   good  houseivife. 

[See  page  175] 


zoological  garden).  In  the  background  several  polar 
bears  were  crouching,  who  smoked  and  hardly  ever 
spoke,  except  to  growl  out  now  and  then  a  real  father- 
land *Donnerwetter'  in  a  deep  bass  voice.  Near  them 
was  squatted  a  Polish  wolf  in  a  red  cap,  who  occasion- 
ally yelped  out  a  silly,  wild  remark  in  a  hoarse  tone. 
There,  too,  I  found  a  French  monkey,  one  of  the  most 
hideous  creatures  I  ever  saw;  he  kept  up  a  series  of 
grimaces,  each  of  which  seemed  more  lovely  than  the 
last,"  etc. 

If  Heine's  polar  bears,  wolf  and  monkey  had  studied 
themselves,  as  we  advise  you  to  study  yourself,  they 
might  have  escaped  the  sarcasm  of  the  sharpest  tongue 
ever  born  in  or  out  of  Germany. 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE— WORTH  IT 

Out  of  the  war  has  come  suffrage — worth  many  mil- 
lions and  many  lives. 


Politeness  and  cheerfulness  are  the  oil  that  keeps  the 
ball  bearings  of  social  life  and  good  business  in  working 
order. 

The  oil  of  politeness  costs  notMng;  on  the  contrary,  it 
helps  him  that  pours  it,  and  him  upon  whom  it  is  poured. 


If  ten  million  dead  from  the  battlefields  could  rise 
and  walk  through  the  streets  of  the  world's  cities,  trail- 
ing their  bloody  garments,  with  ten  million  others  killed 
by  the  flu,  following  and  sneezing  in  the  rear,  that  would 
perhaps  make  the  world  realize  that  war,  international 
or  industrial,  does  not  pay. 

33 


Why  is  Married  Life  Dull? 

It  %3  dull,  too  often.    The  fault  is  with  the  man  usually. 

There  are  many  people  in  the  United  States,  un- 
fortunately, rolling  over  in  their  minds  the  above  ques- 
tion. 

Needless  to  say,  there  are  exceptions  to  the  dulness 
of  which  the  majority  complain. 

Radiant  thousands  of  young  married  people  are  so 
happy  that  the  mere  suggestion  of  dulness  will  make 
them  indignant.  Many  old  couples,  too,  after  years  of 
married  happiness,  wonder  that  any  married  people  find 
life  dull  and  tiresome,  calling  for  variety. 

The  conventional  honeymoon  undoubtedly  is  often  a 
dismal,  foolish  institution. 

The  young  couple  set  off  by  themselves,  traveling  in 
railroad  trains,  stopping  at  strange  hotels,  or,  most 
idiotic  of  all,  going  on  an  ocean  ship  to  become  seasick. 

Young  people  that  are  just  married — the  young  wife 
especially — ought  to  be  at  home,  with  the  people  they 
are  accustomed  to,  and  with  ordinary  amusements  to 
keep  them  interested,  and  to  keep  them  from  thinking 
too  much  about  each  other  and  getting  tired  of  each 
other. 

If  a  man  or  a  woman  suddenly  acquired  possession 
of  a  very  large  mince  pie,  very  agreeable  to  look  at,  that 
person  wouldn't  think  of  going  off  on  a  mince  pie  honey- 
moon for  several  weeks,  with  nothing  on  earth  but  mince 
pie  to  fill  the  time.     Yet  that  is  exactly  what  young 

34 


people  do  when  they  get  married,  and  there  ought  to  be 
a  modification  of  that  foolishness. 


The  dulness  of  married  life  is  chiefly  due  to  men — 
just  about  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  it  is  man's  fault. 

In  the  first  place,  when  men  get  tired — as  they  do  with 
their  day's  work — they  are  selfish  and  dull.  And  they 
make  the  home  atmosphere  dull. 

In  the  second  place,  men  are  selfish,  they  want  to  be 
amused,  and  the  moment  they  find  that  married  life 
lacks  the  excitement  of  courtship  they  are  apt  to  get 
tired  of  it — or  if  not  tired,  at  least  indifferent  and  cal- 
lous. They  haven't  got  enough  imagination  to  keep 
themselves  busy  with  the  study  of  the  human  being 
confided  to  them.  They  haven't  got  enough  unselfish- 
ness to  make  real  happiness  for  themselves  in  trying  to 
make  another  person  happy. 


A  wise  Frenchman  said  about  the  cause  of  inconstancy 


m  man : 


Le  sentiment  de  la  faussete  des  plaisirs  presents,  et 
I'ignorance  de  la  vanite  des  plaisirs  absents,  causent 
rinconstance.'* 

This  may  be  translated:  **A  realization  of  the  false- 
ness of  pleasures  that  are  present  and  ignorance  of  the 
vanity  of  absent  pleasures  cause  infidelity." 

That  is  a  good  description  of  many  men.  That  which 
they  actually  have  seems  worthless.  And  their  igno- 
rance of  real  life  makes  them  think  that  something  else 
would  be  better.  To  begin  with,  they  go  to  excess  in  all 
things,  and  satiety  follows  on  foolishness. 

^5 


In  the  second  place,  all  actual  pleasure  in  life  depends 
upon  the  pawer  of  imagination.  A  beautiful  stream  to 
one  man  is  simply  so  much  water  in  which  he  may  pos- 
sibly catch  so  many  fish. 

To  another  and  a  rarer  man  it  is  a  never-ending  source 
of  delight;  its  coolness,  beauty  and  purity  ajfford  him 
infinite  pleasure. 

Different  men  look  at  the  same  thing — that  is  to  say,  a 
woman — very  much  as  different  men  look  at  a  mountain 
brook.  One  man,  clammy,  with  no  imagination,  looks 
upon  a  woman  as  an  individual  to  minister  to  his  com- 
fort or  convenience.  The  other  sees  in  a  woman  all  that 
nature  has  put  there,  goodness  of  character,  devotion, 
unselfishness,  a  capacity  for  making  life  really  inter- 
esting, and  for  making  man  much  better  than  he  really 
is — if  he  will  have  sense  enough  to  give  her  the  oppor- 
tunity. 


If  there  were  more  men  in  the  world  with  imagination, 
mental  activity,  and  unselfishness,  there  would  be  less 
dulness  in  married  life.  There  is  not  more  than  one 
woman  in  a  thousand  with  whom  married  life  need 
necessarily  be  dull. 

On  the  other  hand — about  nine  hundred  men  out  of 
a  thousand  would  make  life  a  dull,  selfish  institution  if 
the  superior  quality  of  women  did  not  rescue  many  men 
from  their  own  natural  dulness. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  by  those  who  discuss  the 
dulness  of  married  life  that  dulness  itself  is  a  pari  of 
life  in  general.  It  is  impossible  for  human  beings  to  be 
forever  in  a  state  of  extreme  exaltation  and  delight. 
They  must  settle  down  once  in  a  while  to  matter-of-fact 

36 


John  D.  Rockefeller 


"Youth  is  the  age  of  striving  and  selfishness; 
old  age  the  period  of  dreaming  dreams  for  the 
future  that  age  is  not  to  see."  As  a  youth  John 
D.  Rockefeller's  vision  ivas  to  amass  a  fortune 
— in  his  old  age  his  aim  is  to  do  good  for  the 
suffering  and  for  the  coming  generation.  The 
vision  of  his  early  years  has  enabled  him  to 
realize  the  dream  of  his  old  age. 

\_See  page  Q2'] 


living.  Those  that  are  sensible  and  well  balanced  enjoy 
each  other's  company  even  in  quiet,  peaceful  moments. 
The  less  fortunate  and  more  commonplace  class  drop 
down  into  dulness.  And  they  look  about  foolishly  and 
in  dissatisfied  fashion,  thinking  that  something  else 
might  make  them  happy. 


Of  this  the  dissatisfied  married  man  may  be  sure :  He 
wouldn't  be  happier  anywhere  else  than  where  he  is. 
He  might,  and  probably  would,  be  very  much  unhappier 
— for  a  woman  of  the  character  that  would  help  to  take 
him  out  of  his  family  would  probably  also  help  to  make 
him  pretty  miserable  when  she  began  to  get  tired  of 
him. 

Women  make  one  great  mistake — it  contributes  to 
the  dulness  of  married  life  and  the  failure  of  happiness. 
They  are  not  selfish  enough,  they  don't  calculate  enough. 
They  ought  to  keep  themselves  to  themselves  more  than 
they  do.  They  ought  to  have  control  of  the  situation  at 
the  beginning  of  their  married  lives,  and  keep  control 
until  the  end. 

They  ought  especially  to  keep  their  husbands  occupied 
with  some  slight  feeling  of  uncertainty. 

We  do  not  suggest  the  worn-out,  vulgar,  comic  opera 
expedient  of  making  the  husband  jealous.  The  woman 
that  could  descend  to  such  tactics  is  rather  low  in  the 
scale.  Better  a  life  of  sorrow  and  dulness  than  volun- 
tary degradation  of  spirit.  We  '11  quote  our  wise  French 
friend  again.  "II  y  a  dans  la  jalousie  plus  d 'amour 
propre  que  d 'amour,"  which  means,  "There  is  in  jeal- 
ousy more  self  love  than  real  love." 

If  you  make  a  husband  jealous  you  lower  yourself, 

37 


and  you  do  not  arouse  any  affection  for  ymi,  but  only 
affcK'tion  for  /iw  oum  foolish  self  and  his  own  wounded 
vanity. 

Never  affect  an  interest  in  another  man.  If  your 
husband  amounts  to  anything  he  will  simply  have  con- 
tempt for  such  a  ruse,  and  if  he  amounts  to  nothing — 
what's  the  use  of  bothering  about  him? 

But  let  your  husband  feel  that  he  mxist  win  your 
respect.  Don't  be  forever  spoiling  him  with  aimless  and 
undeserved  admiration  and  approval.  He  knows  that 
yoii  know  him.  He  can't  dodge  that.  Be  strict — al- 
though kind  at  the  same  time. 

You  can  make  any  husband  try  pretty  hard  if  you  re- 
fuse to  give  him  your  indorsement  and  admiration  on 
any  other  basis.  Men  are  poor,  weak  things,  and  they 
crave  admiration  at  home.    Make  them  earn  it. 


The  wrong  kind  of  man  goes  to  pieces  when  times  are 
bad,  the  right  kind  shows  there  is  something  worth  sav- 
ing in  every  smashup.  What  human  beings  need  is 
something  to  shake  them  up  and  make  them  think. 


25 


What  Are  We  Here  For? 

A  question  that  is  as  old  as  the  first  man,  the  most  important 
question  that  enters  the  mind  of  man. 

"I  wonder  if  you  would  answer  this  question: 
**  *What  are  we  here  for?' 

Is  there  a  man  or  a  woman  into  whose  mind  this 
question  has  never  come? 

A  man  may  say  to  himself  as  an  individual,  What  am  I 
here  for?  What  is  my  particular  task?  What  are  my 
special  duties  and  possibilities? 

Or  he  may  look  at  the  question  from  a  wider  stand- 
point and  ask: 

**For  what  purpose  is  the  human  race  put  here?'* 

Men  are  all  brothers,  although  a  majority  are  not  civi- 
lized enough  to  know  that.  Men  are  as  much  alike,  seen 
from  the  heights  of  justice  and  knowledge,  as  so  many 
grains  of  sand  or  drops  of  water. 

Men  were  put  here  as  a  race  to  fulfill  duties  as  a  race, 
to  live  and  achieve  together.  And  the  biggest  question 
that  men  have  to  answer,  the  question  that  the 
Greek  philosophers  studied  thirty  centuries  ago,  that 
Asiatics  studied  and  abandoned  long  before  them,  is 
this: 

Why  is  the  human  race  here,  what  should  it  do,  what 
can  it  do? 

The  question  will  be  answered  one  day,  and  the  an- 
swer will  come  because  men  forever  discuss  the  great 
problem. 

39 


To  see  any  question  clearly,  go  far  from  it  and  study 
the  picture  as  though  you  had  no  place  in  it. 

Suppose  you  were  a  superior  being  on  another  planet, 
looking  at  this  earth  with  its  rivers,  mountains,  bowers, 
trees,  beautiful  green  fields  and  about  fifteen  hundred 
million  human  beings  scattered  over  it. 

The  earth  would  look  like  a  great  garden  in  need  of 
cultivation,  and  you  would  look  on  the  little  micro- 
scopic, two-legged  creatures  as  gardeners.  If  any  one 
asked  you,  ''Why  are  the  little  human  beings  put  on 
that  planet  ? ' '  you  would  probably  answer : 

*  *  God  owns  the  planet.  His  pride  is  in  that  beautiful 
round  earth.  He  put  the  little  men  there  to  cultivate  it, 
drain  the  marshes,  irrigate  the  deserts,  wipe  out  the 
jungles  and  finally  make  a  glorious  and  beautiful  park 
of  the  whole  earth. 

''I  marvel  at  His  patience  with  these  little  human 
beings  that  fight  each  other  and  rob  and  cheat  each  other 
and  waste  their  time  instead  of  working  at  the  great 
round  garden  confided  to  their  care.'* 

That  would  be  the  view  of  a  thinking  person,  away 
from  this  earth.  Such  a  being  would  say  that  we  human 
beings  are  here  to  beautify  the  earth  and  improve  it, 
and  that  as  the  microbes  in  the  cheese  give  the  cheese 
its  flavor,  so  we  microbes  are  here  to  give  this  earth  its 
beauty. 

That  would  seem  reasonable  from  our  feeble  human 
point  of  view. 

If  you  went  to  the  estate  of  some  English  duke,  and 
saw  hundreds  of  human  beings  working  at  the  lawns, 
walks,  flower  beds  and  greenhouses,  you  would  not  hesi- 
tate for  a  minute  to  answer  the  question,  **Why  are 
those  men  there?" 

40 


You  would  say,  **They  are  there,  of  course,  because 
the  man  that  owns  the  great  gardens  wants  the  gardens 
looked  after.  First  he  got  the  garden,  and  after  that 
he  put  the  gardeners  there  to  make  it  beautiful.'* 

The  materialistic  man  looks  at  the  earth  in  that  way; 
says  that  men  are  merely  animals,  with  just  sufficient 
thought  to  make  them  good  caretakers  of  this  planet, 
with  no  life  hereafter,  no  probable  great  improvement 
here. 


But  this  is  not  the  highest  or  the  true  conception. 

You  might  imagine  the  English  duke  thinking  of  his 
workmen  only  as  human  machines  to  care  for  his  lawns. 
But  you  could  imagine  a  nobler  soul  interested  in  his 
gardeners  more  than  in  his  garden,  anxious  that  the 
garden  should  be  made  beautiful  in  order  that  the  gar- 
deners and  their  families  might  live  happily  and  develop 
spiritually  amid  beautiful  surroundings. 

The  man  is  dull  minded  who  doubts  that  the  great 
power  of  Law  and  Justice  that  rules  this  universe  and 
maintains  in  perpetual  equilibrium  and  warm  sunlight 
our  little  planet  has  failed  to  plan  for  the  fullest  devel- 
opment of  the  spark  of  cosmic  consciousness  called  soul, 
which  is  in  each  of  us  the  mainspring. 

The  wonderful  earth,  born  in  heat  and  fire,  changing 
geologically  through  long  millions  of  years,  becoming 
more  beautiful  with  each  succeeding  age,  is  ultimately 
to  be  an  ideal  home,  perfect  and  beautiful.  Who  can 
doubt  that  to  be  the  destiny  of  this  planet? 

A  race  of  men  born  in  ignorance,  passing  through 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  of  suffering,  struggling, 
poverty,  ferocious  combat,  famine  and  disease,  are  ulti- 

41 


mately  to  attain  civilization,  high  knowledge,  true 
brotherhood,  to  live  happily  on  this  planet  for  millions 
of  years,  with  the  dreadful  past  forgotten.  Who  can 
doubt  the  future  of  the  human  race? 

It  will  become  beautiful  and  perfect  in  beautifying 
and  perfecting  the  planet.  The  human  gardener  will 
improve  as  his  work  improves;  he  will  become  worthy 
of  the  beauty  and  harmony  that  surround  him  in  infi- 
nite space.    Such  is  the  hope  of  men  as  a  race. 


Thus  man  thinks  of  himself  as  a  drop  in  the  ocean 
of  humanity.  But  apart  from  that  thought  there  is  the 
constant  study  of  the  individual  hy  the  individual,  man 
seeking  to  know  hinuelf. 

It  is  this  self -study,  self -questioning  and  self-reproach 
that  push  the  world  along,  lifting  up  the  race  by  lifting 
up  the  atoms  that  compose  it. 

The  beautiful  picture  illustrates  and  helps  to  answer 
the  old  question,  *'Why  are  we  here?" 


The  little  child  in  the  doorway  on  the  poor  street  looks 
in  wonder  at  the  face  of  the  old  man,  furrowed,  sad  and 
discouraged. 

The  old  man,  whose  questioning  and  striving  with  fate 
has  been  answered  by  failure,  looks  down  upon  the  little 
child,  and  in  that  child 's  face  and  hopefulness  and  help- 
lessness finds  a  partial  answer  at  least  to  the  great  ques- 
tion. 

He  knows  that  his  own  life  need  not  be  a  failure  in 
reality,  although  it  has  failed  on  the  surface. 

He  knows  that  to  protect  one  such  child,  to  give  it  an 

42 


hour's  happiness  or  save  it  from  a  day  of  suffering  is 
alone  worth  while. 

His  clothes  are  torn,  his  shoes  are  worn,  his  face  is  sad 
with  the  disappointments  and  mistakes  of  many  years. 

He  looks  at  the  child,  whose  face  is  a  page  with  no 
line  written  upon  it,  whose  eyes  reflect  the  wonders  and 
all  the  beauty  of  truth  and  innocence,  and  looking  at  the 
child  he  is  able  to  answer  the  question,  saying  to  him- 
self: 

**I  am  here  to  help  others,  to  use  power  wiselj  if  it  comes, 
and  to  endure  poverty  bravely  if  it  must  come.  I  am  here  to 
think  not  of  myself  but  of  others,  to  think  of  children  such  as 
this  and  to  help  them  and  protect  them.'' 


What  are  we  here  for? 

We  are  here  to  find  our  work  and  do  it,  to  realize  our 
duty  and  do  it,  and  to  put  ahead  of  all  other  considera- 
tions and  things  the  needs  of  the  weak  and  the  poor. 


43 


"Throwing  Money  to  the  Birds- 
Sowing  Sorrow" 

One  more  dull  sermon  on  economy.  To  one  who  travels  through 
this  world  money  is  as  important  as  quinine  to  the  traveler  in  a 
fever  country.  Can  you  force  yourself  to  realize  that  a  foolish 
spender  is  as  worthless  as  a  leaky  tub? 

"The  only  way  to  have  money  to  burn  is  not  to  burn  it.'* 


That  is  slangy,  not  the  best  of  English,  but  it  is  the 
best  of  common  sense. 

To  be  able  to  spend  enough  when  you  are  old,  you 
must  spend  "what  seems  too  little  while  you  are  young. 

Ahead  of  you  is  old  age,  waiting. 

There  is  the  old  age,  dignified,  independent,  happy — 
the  best  time  in  life,  when  foolish  fires  have  died  out,  re- 
gretted follies  are  almost  forgotten,  no  more  harm  or 
falsehood  need  be  feared,  and  the  mind,  mature,  studies 
life  and  other  worlds  quietly  and  hopefully. 

There  is  the  old  age  toward  which  so  many  are  drift- 
ing— the  old  age  of  poverty,  sorrow,  humiliation  and  de- 
pendence. 

Nothing  is  more  dreadful  than  to  be  old,  dependent 
upon  others  and  not  wanted. 

The  bread  of  charity  or  the  bread  coldly  doled  out  as 
an  unwelcome  duty  is  bitter  in  the  mouth.  And  thou- 
sands that  see  this  will  learn  the  taste  of  that  bread. 

44 


Thomas  A.  Edison 


"Does  anyone  doubt  that  imagination  is  the 
necessary  forerunner,  the  creator  of  everything 
that  ive  have  ivorth  ivhilef"  At  his  telegraph 
the  young  Edison  imagined  things — imagination, 
coupled  ivith  hard  ivork  and  energy,  made  him 
the  greatest  inventor  of  all  ages. 

[,See  page  ISJ'}  / 


Extravagance  is  a  curse,  and  the  extravagant,  waste- 
ful human  being  is  accursed. 

The  vice  of  spending  and  buying  needlessly  destroys 
the  pleasure  of  possession,  the  real  happiness  that  might 
be  enjoyed. 

The  most  extravagant  man  is  he  who  considers  him- 
self not  extravagant  at  all.  The  boy  who  inherits  a  for- 
tune and  squanders  it  is  not  extravagant.  He  is  a 
maniac,  the  poor,  diseased  victim  of  a  diseased  civiliza- 
tion which  brings  about  the  destruction  of  the  child 
through  the  fruits  of  the  father's  industry. 

The  really  extravagant  young  man  is  he  who  has  a 
small  income  of  salary,  fifteen,  twenty  or  thirty  dollars 
a  week. 

The  man  reckless  of  water  is  not  he  who  lives  on  an 
island  in  a  big  lake,  but  he  who  finds  himself  with  a 
small  supply  of  water  in  the  middle  of  a  dry  desert. 

If  the  latter  is  careful  in  the  use  of  water  he  will 
cross  the  sand  in  safety ;  if  not,  he  will  die  and  contrib- 
ute one  more  skeleton  to  the  desert. 

If  the  man  of  small  income  is  careful  and  saving,  he 
wiU  cross  the  dangerous  period  of  young  manhood  safely 
and  reach  the  other  side  strong  and  independent.  If 
not,  he  will  add  one  more  skeleton  of  failure  to  the  desert 
of  foolishness. 


Don't  deceive  yourself  and  say  that  with  such  an  in- 
come as  yours  it  is  impossible  to  save. 

If  it  is  possible  for  you  to  live,  it  is  possible  for  you 
to  save. 

George  M.  Pullman,  Marshall  Field  and  John  D. 
Rockefeller  all  saved  the  basis  of  big  success  out  of  less 

45 


money  per  week  than  tens  of  thousands  of  young  men 
on  small  salaries  spend  for  their  weekly  luncheons. 

The  young  man  typical  of  the  big  cities  who  ends  the 
week  **just  about  even  or  a  little  in  debt,''  who  usually 
borrows  something  on  Friday  to  repay  on  Saturday,  is 
the  really  extravagant  man,  the  one  throwing  away  his 
chance. 

It  may  be  more  extravagant  for  you  to  spend  daily 
thirty  cents  on  your  luncheon  than  it  would  be  for  some 
other  man  to  buy  a  five-thousand-dollar  automobile. 

Should  you  starve  yourself?  Certainly  not;  that 
would  be  stupid  economy.  But  if  it  is  necessary  in  order 
to  keep  your  receipts  ahead  of  your  spending  you  can 
easily  save  and  not  suffer  hunger  or  cold.  Don't  de- 
ceive yourself  about  that. 


The  greatest  advantage  in  economy,  a  fact  that  you 
can  see  in  the  lives  of  thousands  of  successful  men,  is 
not  in  the  money  saved,  but  habits  formed,  self-control 
acquired,  and  in  work  that  the  mind  does  in  place 
of  the  follies  that  go  with  extravagance. 

The  man  who  is  not  playing  pool  may  be  reading, 
thinking  of  getting  the  early  sleep  that  he  needs — any 
one  of  the  last  three  more  valuable  to  him  than  the 
**pool  money"  saved. 

The  man  who  does  not  spend  his  money  on  drink,  who 
does  not  make  a  fool  and  a  wreck  of  himself,  is  saving 
his  nervous  strength,  keeping  the  brain  free  from  the 
harmful,  resultless  activities  of  alcoholism.  And  the 
saving  to  his  nervous  system  and  his  brain  is  infinitely 
more  valuable  than  the  money  saved. 

46 


If  you  do  not  control  yourself  and  save  now  when  it 
would  be  comparatively  easy,  others  will  control  you, 
and  you  uriU  do  without  in  bitterness  of  spirit  when  you 
are  old  and  the  chance  to  save  and  build  up  inde- 
pendence will  have  gone  by. 

There  isn  't  a  young  man  in  good  health  with  an  aver- 
age small  income  who  could  not,  if  he  wovZd,  make  him- 
self an  independent  man  able  to  laugh  at  the  terrors 
of  old  age  and  poverty. 


What  you  save  in  money  will  help  you,  what  you  save 
in  strength,  in  nervous  force,  in  sleep,  in  good  digestion, 
will  help  you  more.  What  you  gain  in  strength  of  char- 
acter and  self-control  will  help  you  most  of  all. 

Don't  pay  any  attention  to  what  others  are  doing. 

Because  the  fool  next  you  squanders,  don't  think  that 
you  have  an  excuse  for  squandering. 

If  you  were  in  China  the  fool  near  you  might  be  smok- 
ing opium  and  making  his  ultimate  ruin  certain.  But 
you  wouldn't  offer  him  as  an  excuse  for  opium  smoking. 

If  you  lived  among  Eskimos  you  would  be  surrounded 
by  creatures  going  months  without  a  change  of  clothing 
and  years  without  a  bath — ^but  you  wouldn't  consider 
that  a  reason  for  your  being  filthy. 

If  you  lived  among  savages  and  saw  the  fashionable 
young  men  of  the  tribe  slitting  their  cheeks  and  rubbing 
in  pigments,  or  thrusting  bone  ornaments  through  their 
noses,  you  would  not  do  the  same  to  yourself  and  offer 
fashion  as  an  excuse. 

Don't  make  fashion  or  custom  in  this  foolish  civiliza- 
tion  an  excuse  for  imitating  the  foolishness  of  those 
about  you. 

47 


Think  of  yourself  as  an  individual  with  will  power, 
with  need  of  all  resources,  mental,  physical  and  financial. 

Realize,  as  you  m^ist  do  if  y&Mr  mind  is  clear,  that  the 
only  necessary  thing  for  you  is  to  do  day  after  day  the 
thingrs  that  you  know  you  ought  to  do,  and  not  to 
do  things  that  you  know  you  ought  not  to  do.  You  do 
not  need  to  be  told — you  k7iow  what  you  need  to  do. 
Do  it. 

If  you  have  ten  dollars  a  week  only  and  are  careful, 
you  will  live  to  be  envied  by  the  man  whose  big  income 
you  envy  now — if  that  man  is  foolish  and  extravagant. 

In  the  long  run  a  leaky  tub  will  he  empty. 

And  in  the  long  run  a  wasteful  man  will  be  poor. 

And  a  poor  old  age  is  dreadful  and  sad.  Friends  fall 
away  and  forget  you.  Life  gets  harder  as  the  months 
and  years  go  by.  The  body  must  be  kept  alive  some- 
how, for  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  is  our  master 
and  we  struggle  on  in  weakness  and  sorrow  to  the  bitter 
end. 


The  salvation  of  a  traveler  in  a  fever  country  is  his 
supply  of  quinine  pills  that  will  fight  the  fever  that 
enters  his  blood. 

If  you  saw  a  man  traveling  in  such  a  country  scat- 
tering those  precious  pills  to  the  birds  and  plunging 
on  to  certain  destruction,  how  would  you  describe  his 
folly? 

How  can  you  describe  the  folly  of  an  individual  who 
scatters,  in  youth,  the  money,  the  strength,  the  will  that 
might  have  made  that  youth  glorious  and  old  age  digni- 
fied, independent  and  honorable? 

48 


Sarah  Bernhardt 


"Enthusiasm  is  the  poiver  and  the  health  of 
the  mind.     It  is  youth,  ambition,  ivill." 

Sarah  Bernhardt,  greatest  actress  the  ivorld 
ever  produced,  remained  young  to  the  day  of 
her  death;  enthusiasm  kept  her  young — ambi- 
tion made   her  famous.  \See  page  2o\ 


Save  money,  but  save  at  the  expense  of  your  own 
vanities  and  weaknesses,  not  at  the  expense  of  those  that 
have  a  right  to  look  to  you  for  help. 

No  man  ever  hecame  a  failure  through  dovng  too  much 
for  others. 

For  the  chief  gain  in  saving  is  the  gain  in  character. 
And  he  who  spends  for  others  unselfishly  gains  more  by 
far  than  he  who  selfishly  saves. 


If  you  want  to  know  how  difficult  thought  is,  try  to 
put  one  real  thought  on  paper  every  day — ^then  ask 
your  friends  whether  it  is  really  a  thought,  or  only  an 
exclamation. 


The  greatest  teacher  can  put  nothing  in.    Wise  teach- 
ing brings  that  which  is  useful  out. 


Watch,  for  you  know  not  when  opportunity  will  come. 
In  fact,  it  is  here  now,  all  around,  for  those  that  can 
see  it. 


The  possession  of  gold  is  a  mere  fetich.  It  means  noth- 
ing, gold  is  only  a  token.  On  a  desert  island  after  ten 
days  Mr.  Rockefeller  would  give  all  his  gold  for  one 
ham  sandwich. 


To  be  seen,  climb  on  a  high  place. 
To  be  heard,  make  yourself  somebody,  then  people 
will  listen. 

49 


What  Kind  of  Blinders 
Do  You  Wear? 

Every  man,  like  tnany  horses,  has  a  pair  of  some  sort.  "Get 
rid  of  ihcm"  is  good  advice,  l)ut  not  so  easily  followed. 

The  horse  wears  blinders,  and  the  horse  is  the  stupid- 
est animal — more  stupid  even  than  the  pig,  according 
to  a  great  French  animal  trainer. 

The  horse  must  wear  blinders  in  order  that  he  moA/ 
not  see  things  arcnind  him.  His  business  is  to  go  ahead 
in  a  straight  line  until  a  tug  at  his  mouth  changes, the 
direction.  Therefore  we  fix  him  up  so  that  he  can  only 
see  in  a  straight  line. 

Sitting  behind  the  horse  you  behold  beauty  or  things 
of  interest  on  all  sides.  Over  there  the  calf  kicks  up 
his  heels  and  bucks  his  mother;  yonder  a  great  tree 
rises  toward  the  clouds,  and,  farther  still,  the  steam 
cars  remind  you  that  you  can  go  to  town  if  you  will. 

But  the  horse  must  not,  and  does  not,  see  these 
things.  He  has  to  be  grateful  for  even  a  small  piece 
of  paper  to  shy  at.  The  big  things,  the  exciting  things, 
that  would  make  him  run  away  and  get  his  name  in 
the  papers,  are  shut  out  from  him. 

No  wonder  he  is  the  stupidest  animal. 


But  blinders  made  of  leather,  with  monogram  neatly 
engraved,  are  not  the  only  blinders. 

There  are  as  many  kinds  of  blinders  in  the  mental 
world  as  there  are  different  kinds  of  men. 

50 


And  in  one  way  the  horse  is  ahead  of  us.  He  has 
blinders  forced  upon  him.  He  always  resists  mildly 
when  the  bridle  is  pushed  over  his  ears. 

We  human  beings  make  our  own  blinders,  fit  them 
to  our  eyes,  and  either  glory  in  them  or  ignore  the 
fact  that  they  are  there. 


It  is  a  fact  that  each  one  of  us  carries  around  in  his 
mentality  some  set  of  prejudices,  preconceived  opinions 
that  act  as  blinders  to  the  intellect  and  effectually  shut 
out  the  truth. 

These  blinder-prejudices  are  of  all  kinds. 

Many  of  us  are  born  with  them. 

The  man  born  rich,  or  made  rich,  often  thinks  the 
poorer  man  is  necessarily  evil  and  inferior.  He  has 
mental  blinders  that  should  be  at  work  keeping  some 
donkey  in  the  narrow  path. 

The  poor  man  often  wears  a  permanent  delusion 
which  tells  him  that  all  rich  men  are  bad  and  aching 
for  his  heart's  blood.  That  set  of  blinders  makes  it 
impossible  for  him  to  reason  sensibly  or  to  work  in- 
telligently  at  the  improvement  of  his  class. 

Poor  women — let  us  always  speak  kindly  of  them — 
walk  around  in  their  millions  with  blinders  labeled 
*' conventionality . "  They  would  as  willingly  get  out 
of  life  as  get  out  of  style.  They  look  straight  ahead 
at  the  hat  of  the  woman  in  front  of  them,  and  that  hat 
they  will  have,  though  the  heavens  fall  or  the  husband 
fail.  And  as  in  clothes  so  in  other  things  women  stick 
to  conventionality,  and  will  not  even  look  at  truth 
if  it  wears  an  unfamiliar  face.  (That  is  partly  due 
to  woman's  mistrust  of  what  is  new,  while  caring  for 

51 


her  children.  The  mother  among  animals  or  humans 
is  intensely  suspicious  of  the  unknown.  But  that 
excuse,  Tvhile  sound,  would  carry  us  out  of  the  line 
of  argument.) 

Women  should  try  to  think  for  themselves.  As  that 
great  man,  Buckle,  said,  compressing  volumes  of  advice 
into  few  words:  *' Women  should  learn  to  be  ashamed 
of  ignorance." 

If  women  could  get  their  blinders  off  and  be  as 
thoroughly  ashamed  of  ignorance  as  they  are  of  last 
year's  hat,  or  of  a  sleeve  with  the  idiotic  ornament 
in  the  wrong  place,  the  world  would  jump  miles  ahead. 
That's  all  about  women;  no  man  has  the  heart  to 
scold  them. 


Young  men  of  today  are  the  champion  wearers  and 
manufacturers  of  mental  blinders  warranted  to  make 
breadth  of  view  impossible. 

They  start  out  with  the  idea  that  they  personally 
are  pretty  nearly  **all  right."  They  want  the  world 
to  recognize  their  value  and  do  the  right  thing  by 
them — but  they  are  not  willing  to  wait  long.  When 
a  young  reporter  has  been  beaten  on  the  news  for  a 
while  at  a  salary  of  thirty  dollars  per  week  and  wants 
forty,  just  remind  him  that  he  is  paid  more  than  the 
engineer  of  the  Empire  State  Express,  and  ask  him 
if  he  is  a  better  man.  He'll  show  you  such  a  pair 
of  mental  blinders  as  would  fill  the  heart  of  a  white 
Spanish  mule  palfrey  with  bitter  jealousy. 

And  tell  the  editorial  writer  that  he  says  the  same 
thing  over  and  over,  writing  very  commonplace  stuff 
at  that.     You'll  see  visualized  on  the  instant  such  a 

52 


pair  of  self-sufficient  blinders  as  would  explain  even 
his  lack  of  growth. 

Young  men  suffer  from  self-satisfaction  most  de- 
plorably, partly  because  old  age,  with  us,  pays  too 
much  attention  to  youth;  partly  because  we  wear  the 
old  men  out  and  make  youth  conceited  by  premature 
success. 

The  young  man  who  will  tear  off  his  blinders,  look 
around  at  others  and  at  himself,  even  if  it  does  hurt 
his  vanity,  will  grow  in  speed  and  strength,  and  very 
likely  discover  a  short  cut  across  lots — once  the  blinders 
have  gone. 


Millions  of  us  have  blinders  fitted  to  us  by  unfortunate 
conditions  of  birth.  Ignorance  is  of  all  things  the 
heaviest  handicap.  Many  suffer  with  it,  through  no 
fault  of  their  own.  Our  public  schools,  happily,  will 
tear  off  the  blinders  from  the  future  generations  more 
and  more,  as  men  learn  the  art  of  inculcating  real 
knowledge,  and  of  teaching  men  to  tise  what  they  know. 

Knowledge  is  the  great  enemy  of  blindness,  both 
partial  and  absolute. 

KJQOwledge  fights  against  superstition,  its  worst 
enemy,  and  wins  every  battle.  Knowledge  combats 
petty  meanness,  planting  love  of  truth  and  justice  in 
the  poor  soil  where  only  love  of  money  grew  before. 

Knowledge  in  time  will  free  all  of  us  from  the 
blinders  that  we  wear — producing  a  human  race  as  far 
ahead  of  us  as  we  are  ahead  of  the  horse. 

But  as  that  good  day  will  not  come  in  our  lives,  let 
us  attend  each  to  his  individual  set  of  blinders  now. 

53 


Each  of  us  does  \vear  a  set.  The  problem  is  to 
identify  them  and  tear  them  off. 

Get  your  friends  to  help  you.  A  good  friend  can  tell 
you  what  is  the  matter  with  you  in  a  minute.  He  may 
not  seem  such  a  good  friend  after  telling.  But  if  you 
are  sensible  you  will  be  a  better  man. 


One  thing  is  important  in  this  world,  one   only — 
th-oxLght. 


Reading,  of  itself,  is  nothing.  Thinking  is  all. 
Thinking  is  to  reading  as  digesting  is  to  eating. 

Is  anybody  thoroughly  educated?  Certainly  not,  for 
a  really  educated  man  or  woman  would  be  the  perfect 
man  or  woman.  We  are  thousands  of  years  from  seeing 
that  specimen. 


Each  must  discover  himself,  for  himself.     There  is 
very  little  use  of  relying  on  others  to  do  it  for  you. 


Do  your  part  to  make  the  nation  cheerful. 
Fear  and  anxiety  tighten  the  heart,  dull  the  mind, 
check  effort. 


Persist  in  cheerfulness.    Talk  it  to  your  children  and 
to  your  friends. 

54 


What  Sort  of  Ambition  Should 
a  Man  Have? 

The  amhition  TO  ENOW  HIS  POWERSjo  know  THEIR  LIMITA- 
TIONS, and  to  work  accordingly. 

Is  a  man  happy  **if  he  remains  in  the  humble  place 
and  station  of  his  birth"?  A  reader  asks  that  question. 
A  man  may  find  in  the  lonely  cottage,  or  the  village, 
or  the  big  city  street  of  his  birth  full  opportunity  to 
develop  all  his  powers,  to  do  all  the  good  that  is  in  Mm,. 
to  utilize  wisely  the  uplifting  force  that  we  call 
ambition. 

As  a  general  proposition,  however,  a  cultivated  and 
civilized  human  being,  like  a  cultivated  and  civilized 
shade  tree,  demands  occasional  transplanting.  Man's 
destiny  is  to  move  about  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  If 
he  sits  in  one  spot  like  a  tree  or  a  gooseberry  bush,  he 
doesn't  give  himself  a  full  chance. 

It  is  good  for  the  country  boy  to  go  into  the  city. 
It  is  good  for  the  city  boy  to  go  into  the  country — 
it  is  good  for  each  to  study  that  which  he  has  not  seen. 


As  to  the  man  remaining  in  the  '*  station  of  his 
birth,"  that  is  impossible. 

At  his  birth  a  human  being  is  little  better  than  a 
mass  of  putty.  He  is  a  poor,  almost  bald,  toothless, 
deaf  and  blind  little  creature,  unable  to  do  anything 
for  himself.  From  this  ''station  of  his  birth,"  which 
is  a  condition  of  absolute  helplessness  and  uselessness, 
he  may  develop  to  be  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  world. 

55 


Or  he  may  stop  and  pass  his  life  at  any  one  of  a  million 
intermediate  stations.  He  may  stop  off  in  his  progress, 
so  to  speak,  at  the  first  station,  which  is  that  of  physical 
development  and  commonplace  life. 

The  force  we  call  ambition  is  a  feeling  not  only  of 
restlessness  and  desire  for  change  and  achievement,  but 
especially  a  moral  impulse  to  do  good. 

We  all  feel  within  ourselves  a  force  stirring  vaguely, 
indefinitely.  AVe  want  to  do  something,  and  that  desire 
to  do  something,  if  it  is  based  on  desire  to  be  useful  to 
other  people,  may  properly  be  called  ambition. 

The  successful  ambitious  human  being  is  the  one  that 
maJiCS  th-e  best  possible  Mse  of  his  or  her  powers. 

The  world  is  full  of  perverted  emotion,  improperly 
called  ambition. 

That  perverted  ambition  is  selfishness,  vanity,  base- 
less egotism  that  makes  us  refuse  to  do  useful  work 
that  we  might  do  because  it  does  not  seem  important 
enough. 


The  young  girl  should  be  ambitious — in  the  future 
and  in  the  present. 

As  to  her  future  ambitions,  she  may  let  her  mind 
roam  as  far  as  she  will.  If  she  wants  to  think  of 
marrying  a  king,  or  marrying  the  little  boy  around  the 
corner  and  making  a  king  of  him  by  her  influence,  let 
her  do  so.  If  she  wants  to  think  that  she  will  combine 
the  powers  of  Rachel,  Jenny  Lind  and  Bernhardt— > 
that  won't  hurt  her. 

But  she  must  have  an  ambition  right  in  the  present 
• — a  definite  ambition. 

She  must  make  up  her  mind  that  she  will  do  what 

56 


she  can  to  be  useful  in  the  house  where  she  lives,  and  to 
set  a  good  example  wherever  she  may  be. 

Whatever  good  there  is  in  small  boys  is  usually  based 
upon  their  admiration  for  girls  of  their  own  age.  Girls 
should  remember  that  they  have  an  important  work 
to  do  today  in  influencing  the  minds  of  lads  with 
whom  they  come  in  contact,  and  inspiring  in  such  boys 
admiration  of  good  character. 


The  young  boy  should  be  ambitious  also. 

And  while  he  dreams  occasionally  of  being  President 
of  the  United  States,  knocking  Dempsey  senseless,  or 
making  the  best  flying  machine,  he  must  have  for  his 
present  ambition  something  simpler  and  more  feasible. 

If  his  people  are  good,  the  highest  ambition  he  can 
have  is  to  support  himself  and  help  them. 

If  they  are  making  a  sacrifice  to  give  him  an  educa- 
tion that  will  help  them  later,  the  boy's  ambition  should 
be  to  do  everything  in  his  work  to  be  worthy  of  the 
kindness  and  the  opportunity  they  are  giving  him. 

Every  boy,  young  man  and  young  woman  should 
have  ambition  to  understand  public  affairs,  and,  if 
possible,  to  influence  them.  Fower  lies  in  all  of  the 
people. 

Every  boy,  girl,  young  man  and  woman  should  study 
political  affairs,  understand  public  questions  and  be 
ambitious,  in  a  little  or  a  big  way,  to  help  make  this 
land  a  genuine  republic,  governed  in  the  interests  of 
the  people. 

It  is  proper  that  young  men  and  women  should  have 
a  reasonable  desire  to  accumulate  money.  Poverty  is 
slavery. 

57 


Only  the  greatest  genius  can  do  real  work  in  the 
face  of  poverty,  and  to  do  it  he  must  be  content  to 
endure  suffering  and  humiliation. 

Every  young  man  should  have  a  good,  honest 
ambition  to  make  a  reasonable  fortune,  to  put  himself 
and  those  dependent  on  him  beyond  the  reach  of  want, 
beyond  the  whims  of  some  other  human  being. 

But  the  making  of  money  should  be  a  secondary 
ambition.  It  is,  properly  speaking,  not  ambition  at  all 
— only  a  development  of  the  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion. 

Real  thought  should  dwell  on  the  possibility  of  doing 
something  entirely  new  which  will  be  of  benefit  to  all 
of  the  world — or  of  doing  extremely  well  something 
that  is  necessary. 

Encourage  your  own  ambition,  nurse  it,  and  mark 
out  a  definite  course  for  it. 

A  man  can  no  more  sail  through  life  without  a  guid- 
ing, directing  will — than  a  ship  can  sail  across  the 
ocean  without  a  needle  pointing  in  one  direction  all 
the  time. 

You  may  change  your  course;  you  may  find  as  your 
abilities  develop  that  you  must  change  your  plans. 

Don't  be  afraid  or  ashamed  to  change  the  course  of 
your  ambition. 

But  have  a  plan,  and  stick  to  it  until  you  make  up 
your  mind  that  it  was  wrongly  selected. 

And  remember  this:  No  man  is  worth  his  salt  who 
does  not  try  to  do  something  that  will  help  others. 
Everything  that  we  enjoy  on  this  earth — comforts, 
luxury — we  owe  to  the  ambition  of  unselfish,  brave  men 
that  lived  here  before  us.  Try  to  be  like  them,  in  a 
big  or  a  little  way,  and  good  luck  to  you. 

58 


The  Truth  Sets  You  Free 

TrutJi  is  found  in  good  hooTcs,  freedom  also. 
"Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  70U  free." 

^Ian  progresses.  He  -was  a  poor,  shivering  creature 
on  this  earth  a  hundred  thousand  years  ago,  afraid  of 
wind  that  roared  through  his  cave,  calling  it  a  devil; 
afraid  of  lightning  that  flashed  in  the  sky,  imagining 
that  a  supreme  God  was  trying  to  hit  his  poor  little 
carcass.  That  same  lightning,  the  electric  spark  man 
uses  inside  the  engine  of  the  flying  machine  that  carries 
him  through  clouds  where  lightning  flashes.  He  knows 
scientific  truth  and  that  makes  him  free  of  superstition 
and  free  to  ride  through  the  air. 


Many  readers  say  "Tell  us  what  to  read,  since  you 
so  often  speak  of  good  books.*' 

First  you  want  to  know  what  and  where  this  earth 
is  on  which  you  live.  Read  a  good,  simple  book  on 
astronomy.  Flammarion's  Astronomy  is  good.  So  is 
Ball's  "Story  of  the  Heavens." 

It  is  a  good  idea  to  have  on  hand  and  read  several 
books  at  once,  each  book  opens  up  a  new  part  of  the 
mind. 

While  you  are  reading  your  astronomy  read  a  good, 
simple  up-to-date  book  on  geology;  get  one  recently 
written.  Your  librarian  or  book  dealer  will  recom- 
mend one.  This  geology  will  tell  you  what  has  happened 
to  the  earth  during  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  years 
that  it  has  been  spinning  around  the  sun. 

59 


Then  read  a  book  on  evolution,  about  the  development 
of  animal  life  on  the  earth,  how  you  have  gradually 
risen  to  an  erect  position,  and  learned  to  study  the 
stars  instead  of  studying  ways  to  kill  and  eat  your 
neighbor.     Wallace's  book  on  Darwinism  is  good. 

After  you  understand  something  about  the  universe 
in  which  your  earth  is  a  little  traveler,  something 
about  geology  and  evolution,  read  a  good  book  on 
psychology'  and  learn  something  about  yourself,  how 
it  becomes  possible  for  your  brain  to  see  and  under- 
stand the  world  around  you  and  the  distant  suns. 
Professor  James  has  written  an  admirable  text  book 
on  psychology.    Get  it. 


Then  get  a  history  of  philosophy,  which  means  the 
history  of  human  thought  and  abstract  speculation. 

Philosophy  represents  the  effort  of  man  to  explain 
things  to  himself,  as  religion  represents  man's  effort  to 
believe,  and  thus  get  along  without  any  scientific 
explanation. 

The  history  of  philosophy  written  by  George  Lewes, 
husband  of  George  Eliot,  is  easy  and  pleasant  to  read, 
and  sufficiently,  although  not  perfectly,  accurate. 


"^Vhile  reading  all  other  books,  make  it  a  point  to 
read  Shakespeare  for  at  least  fifteen  minutes  every  day. 
Other  books  feed  different  parts  of  the  mind.  Shake- 
speare feeds  the  entire  brain. 

Read,  a  little  at  a  time  and  changing  from  one  book 
to  another,  the  following  books: 

Bacon's  Essays.     He  was  one  of  the  world's  three 

60 


greatest  thinkers.  He  died  in  disgrace,  which  shows 
that  intellect  is  sometimes  apart  from  character. 

Read  the  essays  of  Montaigne  and  the  maxims  of 
La  Rochefoucauld.  At  the  same  time,  although  some 
readers  find  it  rather  hard,  read  slowly  Montesquieu's 
^* Spirit  of  Laws."  Keep  the  last  three  books  by  you 
and  read  them  intermittently  in  the  course  of  a  year. 
You  will  find  in  Montesquieu  the  history  of  man's 
struggle  to  attain  justice.  In  Montaigne  you  will  admire 
solid  wisdom  and  keen  satire.  The  brilliant  Duke  of 
La  Rochefoucauld  will  show  you  how  to  use  language 
and  wit  most  brilliantly. 

If  you  want  to  know  something  about  education  for 
your  children's  sake,  read  Herbert  Spencer's  book  on 
** Education,"  and  Rousseau's  **Emile."  Add  to  these, 
if  you  are  industrious,  works  on  education  by  Froebel 
and  Pestalozzi.  But  Spencer  and  Rousseau  are  enough 
for  the  average  parent. 


To  make  you  think,  enable  you  to  judge  events  of 
today  and  think  intelligently  about  the  future  in  the 
light  of  the  past,  read  these  admirable  books: 

Buckle's  ** History  of  Civilization  in  England," 
Lecky's  ** History  of  European  Morals"  and  Guizot's 
** History  of  Civilization."  You  will  find  it  difficult 
to  buy  the  last  named,  but  can  get  it  at  a  public 
library. 

Such  books  as  these  should  be  read  with  an  encyclo- 
pedia at  hand  and  frequently  consulted.  Never  read 
and  pass  on  without  understanding  what  you  have  read 
or  knowing  about  the  important  characters  mentioned. 
To  read  books  without  knowing  what  you  read  is  like 

61 


swallowing  food  whole,   it  does  no  good  and  causes 
indigestion. 


To  learn  how  to  write,  try  this  short  course: 

**The  fables  of  La  Fontaine" — for  clear  expression 
of  simple  thought. 

Sterne's  ''Sentimental  Journey,"  the  best  English 
prose. 

Homer's  ** Odyssey."  It  will  cure  you  of  any  admira- 
tion for  fancy  writing. 

Read  Dante's  ''Inferno"  and  his  "Paradise"  for 
magnificent  writing,  which  is  different  from  fancy 
writing.  More  power  of  a  certain  kind  is  in  Dante 
than  in  any  of  the  other  writers — except  Shakespeare, 
who  possesses  more  of  everything  than  all  the  others 
put  together. 

Read  "Don  Quixote,"  by  the  wonderful  Spaniard, 
Cer\^antes.     There  is  the  marvel  of  wit  and  satire. 

Read  "Gulliver's  Travels,"  not  a  peptonized  edition 
rewritten  for  children,  but  Swift's  own  original,  and 
read  Goethe's  "Faust,"  the  first  part  at  least.  Read 
also  Heine's  " Reisebilder, "  although  no  translation 
carries  all  of  Heine's  genius. 

To  know  something  about  yourself  and  your  own 
kind,  read  the  lives  of  a  few,  say  a  dozen  or  twenty, 
of  the  world's  important  men;  for  instance,  Socrates, 
Alexander  the  Great,  Aristotle,  Caesar,  Napoleon,  Vol- 
taire, Michael  Angelo,  Leonardo  Da  Vinci.  Read  the 
lives  of  all  the  authors  mentioned  above.  Look  them 
up  in  a  first-class  encyclopedia,  if  you  have  no  time  to 
do  more. 

62 


Above  all  read  Shakespeare  regularly.  If  you  read 
for  forty  years  there  are  forty  Shakespeares  waiting 
for  you.  The  more  you  know,  the  more  you  find  in 
him.  His  Falstaff  is  for  every  age  that  appreciates 
wit.  His  King  Lear,  written  in  his  late  years  of  bitter- 
ness and  disappointment,  is  for  the  old  and  the  serious. 
Hamlet  is  the  puzzle  and  the  mental  food  of  every  age. 
His  sonnets  are  the  best  that  the  world  possesses,  as 
his  comedies  and  tragedies  are  the  best. 

There  is  in  Shakespeare  mental  food  for  a  lifetime. 
Do  not  neglect  him,  whatever  else  you  may  neglect. 
The  best  brief  story  of  this  man  who  has  taught  the 
whole  world,  and  about  whom  the  world  knows  so 
little,  was  written  by  a  Danish  Jew,  Brandes.  Read 
his  **  William  Shakespeare,  a  Critical  Study. '* 


In  books  worth  reading,  which  no  man  can  exhaust 
in  one  lifetime,  you  will  find  happiness,  suggestions  for 
the  use  of  power  and  wealth,  if  you  possess  them, 
consolation  in  poverty,  and  strength  under  all  condi- 
tions. 

To  be  ignorant  is  not  to  be  alive,  except  as  the  animals 
live. 

And  for  ignorance  there  is  no  necessity,  and  no  excuse 
except  mental  dulness. 

A  college  education  is  not  necessary,  nothing  is  neces- 
sary except  ability  to  read  intelligently  and  desire  to 
know. 

And  age  makes  no  difference,  except  that  the  un- 
trained mind  past  forty  retains  facts  with  difficulty. 
But  love  of  knowledge  makes  up  for  that. 

Among  the   really   learned   men   of   the   world   the 

63 


greatest  have  learned  more  after  tliirty  than  before 
thirty.  For  the  thinking  that  you  do  is  the  really  im- 
portant part  of  education,  and  sound  thinking  comes 
after  thirty. 

If  you  have  not  a  good  education,  you  can  get  it  at 
no  cost.  It  is  all  in  the  books  and  inspiration  and 
happiness  as  well. 

Read  good  books. 


Give  your  children  an  opportunity  in  life,  if  they 
are  brilliant  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term,  and  learn 
easily ;  don 't  force  them,  hold  them  back. 

If  they  are  called  ''dull,"  remember  you  made  them. 
They  did  not  make  themselves.  A  child  can  have  only 
what  its  father  and  mother  give  it;  if  the  child  seems 
to  be  lacking,  let  the  father  and  mother  blame  them- 
selves and  try  to  make  up  in  the  child  *s  life  for  that 
which  was  lacking  in  its  birth. 


FIVE  YEARS'  WAR 

In  five  years,  this  stupid  earth  spent  on  war,  killing 
and  destroying,  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
millions  of  dollars.  If  a  man  spent  ten  times  his  yearly 
revenue  in  one  drunken,  murderous  debauch,  he  would 
have  to  save  and  suffer  for  some  time.  That  is  what 
the  world  wiU  have  to  do. 

64 


Henry  Ford 


"What  ivill  the  future  shoiv?  You  can  never 
tell"  says  Mr.  Brisbane.  Thirty  years  ago 
Henry  Ford  ivas  a  poor  mechanic.  Today  he 
pays  the  largest  income  tax  in  the  ivorld. 
Where  ivill  you  be  in  thirty  years? 

[See  page  5] 


Every  Day  That  the  Sun  Rises — 
This  World  is  Better 

Each  day,  for  millions  of  years,  the  teautiful  sun  has  risen 
upon  this  continent,  or  upon  the  great  waste  of  waters  that  cov- 
ered what  is  a  continent  today.  Each  rising  of  the  sun  found 
the  earth  'better,  nearer  the  perfection  that  is  the  earth's  destiny. 
What  the  sun  is  to  this  material  planet,  education,  the  sun  of 
"knowledge  and  progress,  is  to  the  human  mind.  Its  rising  drives 
away  clouds,  promises  the  new,  tetter  day. 

You  do  not  know  this  earth  or  its  beautj^,  unless 
yon  have  seen  the  sun  rise — often. 

The  dark  night  softens  and  loses  power.  The  stars, 
soon  to  be  conquered  by  the  great  star  nearest  to  us, 
grow  dim  as  a  greater  light  approaches.  Those  other 
stars,  each  in  its  distant  spot,  tell  of  the  work  that  is 
done  by  light  and  power  on  endless  millions  of  planets 
throughout  the  infinite  universe. 

Blackness  changes  to  gray  that  is  almost  black.  The 
trees  become  distinct.  The  birds  wake  up  and  with 
twittering  and  fluttering  prepare  for  another  day. 

Toward  the  east  the  sky  becomes  softer,  the  light 
of  dawn  spreads  across  the  fields,  and  then  come  the 
first  rays  shooting  upward  against  the  round  surface 
of  our  earth  i%  tell  that  the  great  sun  is  coming. 


To  the  eye  and  the  imagination  of  man  nothing  is 
more  impressive  than  that  rising  sun,  increasing  im- 
perceptibly, yet  with  marv^elous  speed  from  the  faintest 
beginning  of  light  to  the  full  splendor  of  brilliant  day. 

65 


Billions  upon  billions  of  times  the  sun  in  his  rising 
is  reflected  in  the  dewdrops  on  the  leaves,  in  the  spray 
that  the  ocean  Tvaves  throw  into  the  air,  in  the  eyes 
of  waking  creatures. 

A  night  that  was  black  and  a  planet  that  was  asleep 
are  changed  into  a  wonderful  day  of  light  and  into  a 
wonderful  earth  of  activity  and  eager  labor. 

Throughout  the  ages  thousands  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  centuries,  that  wonderful  sight  has  been 
repeated  every  day — ^the  sun  rising  and  doing  his  work 
upon  the  planet,  and  setting  to  continue  that  work — 
always  rising,  always  setting,  never  still,  never  absent 
— and  every  second  improving  the  earth  that  is  given 
to  us. 


The  sun's  heat  and  light,  his  bombardment  of  our 
planet  by  imperceptible  bodies  necessary  to  our 
existence,  his  influence  upon  our  atmosphere  and  our 
vegetation  have  changed  the  earth  from  dreadful  chaos 
into  the  planet  that  we  know  and  inhabit.  And  the 
sun^s  work  continuing  through  the  thousands  of  cen- 
turies ahead  of  us  will  make  of  this  planet  a  beautiful, 
perfect  garden,  ready  for  the  perfect  civilization  that 
will  exist  here  one  day,  realizing  the  dreams  of  the 
boldest  dreamers,  and  putting  to  shame  those  that  dared 
to  set  a  limit  to  man's  power. 


What  the  sun,  great  father  and  giver  of  light,  is 
to  the  earth  and  to  man,  education,  the  sun  of  knowledge, 
is  to  the  mind  of  man  and  to  his  spiritual  life. 

Truth  and  knowledge,  like  the  sun,  have  traveled 
around  this  earth  through  the  centuries. 

66 


From  the  east  to  the  west  knowledge  has  gone  steadily 
— a  brilliant  sun  growing  in  brightness  with  the  years. 

Toward  the  sun  of  education  men  turn  their  faces 
hopefully,  and  the  hope  will  not  be  disappointed. 

The  sun  that  lights  our  planet  and  the  sun  of  knowl- 
edge that  brings  light  to  the  mind  of  man  both  dissipate 
clouds  and  drive  away  darkness. 


This  planet  of  ours  was  a  dreadful  abode  in  old  days 
before  the  sun  had  done  his  splendid  work.  Monsters 
inhabited  it,  flying  lizards,  giant  dinosaurs  bigger  than 
ten  elephants.  Fearful  swamps  and  morasses  covered 
it.  The  air  was  so  heavy,  so  filled  with  noxious  gases 
that  no  creature  now  living  could  possibly  have  breathed 
on  the  earth  in  those  days. 

Day  by  day,  year  by  year,  century  by  century, 
through  millions  upon  millions  of  years,  the  sun  has 
worked,  and  we  have  a  planet  now  upon  which  man 
can  live  and  upon  which  he  has  just  hegun  the  task 
of  arranging  for  himself  a  harmonious  home  worthy  of 
a  thinking  being. 


Education  has  done  for  the  mind  of  man  what  the 
sun  has  done  for  the  planet  beneath  our  feet. 

Education  has  driven  away  the  clouds  of  brutality, 
superstition,  ignorance  and  hatred — some  of  them  at 
least.  And  the  clouds  that  remain  grow  thinner  day  by 
day,  and  the  light  through  them  grows  clearer. 

Men  in  the  beginning  were  as  barbarous  and  vile, 
comparatively,  as  was  the  old  earth  in  the  day  of 
dinosaurs  and  pterodactyls. 

67 


Read  the  history  of  men,  especially  the  history  of 
their  religious  beliefs — reflecting  men's  own  vices  and 
"Virtues — and  you  see  a  picture  almost  too  dreadful  for 
contemplation. 

In  history  you  can  look  upon  men  when  they  were 
all  cannibals — except  a  few  too  feeble  and  timid  to 
kill  and  eat  their  fellows. 

You  can  look  upon  nations  calling  themselves 
**  civilized '  *  as  we  call  ourselves  civilized  today,  and 
find  those  nations  believing  that  they  could  please  their 
gods  by  sacrifices  of  living  beings — human  beings. 

You  find  the  man  of  power  slaughtering  helpless 
slaves  and  burying  them  beneath  the  cornerstone  of  a 
new  house  '*to  bring  good  luck  and  propitiate  the  evil 
spirits. ' ' 

And  later  you  found  conditions  as  vile — infinitely 
worse,  in  fact,  since  they  existed  side  by  side  with 
intelligence  and  knowledge  fairly  well  developed. 

You  found  in  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  and  later 
men  possessing  all  the  knowledge  accumulated  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  hurning  one  another  alive. 

You  found  the  heads  of  different  religions,  each  in 
the  name  of  a  Being  who  had  given  up  His  life  for  the 
poor,  burning,  torturing  and  cursing  all  that  failed 
to  agree  with  their  view — although  they  had  the  sar)ie 
God. 

You  could  see  men  burned  alive  because  they  dis- 
covered new  truths,  you  could  see  them  threatened  with 
death  because  they  had  dared  to  announce  that  the 
earth  was  round.  You  could  find  human  beings  pre- 
tending to  exercise  the  powers  of  God — savages  in  the 
African  jungle,  witch  doctors  fooling  a  chief  into  be- 
lieving  that   he   had   swallowed   a   little   alligator,   or 

68 


Kathleen  and  Charles  G.  Norris 


"Married  life  need  not  be  dull,"  says  Mr. 
Brisbane.  And  here  are  Kathleen  Norris  and 
her  husband  Charles  G.,  famous  no'velists,  ivho 
ivork  together  and  ivho  have  never  found  mar- 
riage dull.  In  a  recent  issue  of  Good  House- 
keeping Mrs.  Norris  revealed  the  secret  of  her 
successful  married  life.  \_See  page  j^] 


equally  preposterous  leaders  of  religion  in  Europe  of 
various  denominations  leading  rulers  to  believe  that 
they  could  give  eternal  happiness  for  a  financial  con- 
sideration, or  punish  with  eternal  hell  and  damnation 
the  withholding  of  that  financial  consideration. 


This  was  a  vile  earth,  in  the  savage  days  before  our 
beautiful  sun  had  begun  to  put  it  in  order.  It  is  bad 
enough  still  with  its  deserts  and  swamps,  but  it  shows 
signs  of  improvement. 

This  was  a  vile  earth  of  ours  before  the  great  and 
beautiful  sun  of  education  had  begun  to  put  the  human 
mind  in  order.  It  is  bad  enough  still,  with  its  prejudices, 
superstitions,  hatreds,  wars,  its  billions  for  battle,  its 
coldness  toward  the  poor. 

But  it  is  a  better  world  than  it  was;  the  light  is 
breaking ;  those  that  have  their  faces  turned  toward  the 
sun  of  knowledge  see  the  clouds  disappearing,  know 
that  the  full  day  is  coming  and  hope  that  it  is  not 
far  off. 


Among  those  that  in  the  old  days  made  and  wor- 
shipped the  gods  of  their  own  manufacture  or  in- 
vention, the  most  dignified  perhaps  were  the  sun 
worshippers.  They  worshipped  the  most  beautifid  thing 
within  the  range  of  vision. 

We  no  longer  worship  inanimate  objects.  And 
those  that  are  intelligent  do  not  worship  any  imitation 
of  man,  any  revengeful,  repulsive,  torturing  and  hating 
creature.  We  are  not  sun  worshippers,  but  we  are  in 
a  mental  sense  worshippers  of  the  new  sun,  the  sun  of 

69 


knowledge  and  education,  the  sun  that  will  make  men 
equal,  that  will  put  light  in  the  dark  places,  the  sun 
that  is  destined  in  the  years  to  come  to  answer  upon 
this  planet  that  most  beautiful  prayer,  **Thy  will  be 
done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.'* 


PROGRESS 


Once  when  rulers  made  a  treaty,  each  would  sign  his 
name  in  blood  to  prove  he  meant  it. 
Sentimental  young  people  wrote  love  letters  in  blood. 
Now  they  use  a  typewriter. 


FOR  CHII4P  BEATERS 

Yon  can  forgive  an  army  mule  driver  who  says  the 
mule  can  be  controlled  only  by  brutality.  But  what 
about  parents  that  say  the  same  of  their  children  and 
beat  them?  Beating  a  child  is  breaking  the  main- 
spring of  a  watch. 


To  be  economical  is  important,  for  economy  means 
independence,  and  the  absence  o-!  independence  means 
slavery. 


Think  and  he  discontented,  wisely  discontented  with 
yourself,  and  you  will  go  as  far  as  it  is  within  you  to  go. 

70 


Are  You  One  of  Those  That 
Push  the  World  Along? 

The  Pushers,  poor  or  rich,  that  do  their  share  in  pushing  the 
world  along  the  path  of  PROORESB^  are  the  only  men  and  women 
worthy  of  the  name. 

There  are  only  two  classes  of  human  beings  in  the 
world — the  useful  and  the  useless. 

To  which  class  do  you  belong? 

The  useful  class  consists  of  those  whose  work,  besides 
maintaining  themselves,  does  good  to  others. 

The  useless  class,  large  unfortunately,  consists  of 
absolute  drones  that  do  nothing  at  all,  and  relative 
drones  whose  work,  concentrated  exclusively  on  their 
own  welfare,  does  no  good  to  anybody  else. 


While  idlers  and  the  selfishly  active  constitute  a  large 
class,  it  is  fortunately  a  fact  that  useful  workers,  the 
pusherSj  outnumber  the  others  a  hundred  to  one,  or 
more. 

In  the  first  place  and  in  the  first  rank  stand  the 
mothers  of  the  country,  the  great  army  of  patient, 
anknown,  unrewarded  workers,  whose  best  years  and 
strength,  intelligence  and  knowledge  are  devoted  to  the 
perfecting  of  the  future  generation. 

And  then  come  the  fathers,  millions  of  men  that 
work  regularly  and  uncomplainingly  at  humble  occupa- 
tions, denying  themselves  and  saving,  that  their  children 
may  be  well  dressed,  well  fed  and  kept  at  school. 

71 


Many  a  man  in  this  country  could  have  been  great 
and  famous,  well  supplied  with  food  for  his  vanity, 
had  he  been  willing,  in  seeking  greater  eonspicuous- 
ness,  to  risk  temporarily  the  welfare  and  comfort  of  his 
wife  and  children.  He  felt  that  he  had  no  right  to  take 
risks,  having  bound  himself  to  provide  for  others,  so 
he  kept  plodding  away,  and  gave  up  his  opportunity 
to  be  among  the  admired  and  applauded. 

But  he  is  one  of  the  real  pushers.  Like  the  soldier 
in  the  ranks,  he  sacrifices  his  life,  without  hope  of  glory 
or  even  mention;  it  is  he  that  really  wins  the  victory 
for  civilization  in  the  end. 

Those  that  do  most  for  Progress,  whose  life  and 
activities  are  absolutely  essential  to  it,  are  the  men  and 
the  women  never  heard  of ;  the  patient,  plodding  pushers 
that  sacrifice  themselves  and  live  in  obscurity  for  the 
sake  of  duty. 


All  of  us,  young  or  old,  men  or  women,  are  either 
helping  to  push  along  civilization  or  we  are  useless 
drones,  basely  living  on  society  like  the  crab  in  the 
oyster. 

Every  one  of  us  has  his  work  to  do  and  can  do  it 
if  he  will. 

The  old  man  or  woman,  past  the  age  of  work  and  of 
material  usefulness,  can  do  great  good  by  the  setting 
of  a  good  example. 

A  cheerful  tone  in  the  aged,  an  optimistic  view  of 
life,  kind  encouragement  for  those  that  need  it,  very 
gentle  criticism  of  the  faults  of  youth,  can  do  a  very 
great  deal. 

The  young  man  who  knows  enough  to  respect  him- 

?2 


self,  to  keep  free  from  gambling,  drinking  and  other 
destroyers  of  the  future,  benefits  others  as  well  as 
himself. 

If  he  has  courage  to  preach  as  well  as  practise,  his 
influence  is  great  on  those  about  him.  A  thousand  such 
young  men  in  their  actual  lives  can  do  as  much  good 
as  many  clergymen  or  editors. 

Every  young  woman  has  a  chance  to  do  her  share 
of  the  work.  If  she  is  self-respecting  and  inspires  in 
the  young  men  who  meet  her  a  high  ideal  of  woman- 
hood, she  is  helping  to  push  along  the  development  of 
humanity  in  her  little  corner  of  life.  Incidentally,  she 
is  preparing  herself  for  a  wise  marriage  and  that  most 
useful  of  all  work,  the  addition  of  really  good  children 
to  the  population. 


The  man  who  digs  his  ditch  or  lays  his  brick  honestly, 
making  life  comfortable  and  secure  for  others,  is  useful 
and  praiseworthy. 

The  engineer  who  takes  his  rushing  train  and  a  thou- 
sand passengers  safely  through  the  night,  helping  on 
commerce  and  the  exchange  of  commodities,  making  life 
safe  through  his  punctuality  and  nervous  force,  is  one 
of  the  pushers. 

The  very  successful,  the  ablest,  and  many  of  the 
richest  men  are  also  among  the  pushers  and  among  the 
most  useful  of  them. 

The  senseless  denunciation  of  legitimate  wealth  is 
harmful  to  the  country,  as  well  as  unjust. 


The  United  States  is  a  nation  of  great  progress.    Its 
growth  has  merely  begun. 

73 


TVe  need  in  this  country  the  ablest  minds,  the  most 
energetic  men.  Europe  has  sent  them  to  us  in  the 
past,  we  have  developed  and  encouraged  them  here. 
We  must  continue  to  do  bo. 

In  these  days  the  highest  reward  that  one  man  or 
a  body  of  men  can  offer  to  another  is  apparently  a 
great  sum  of  money. 

That  great  sum  of  money,  at  least,  is  what  the  able 
man  in  America,  the  powerful  pusher,  today  wants.' 

If  he  wants  it  he  should  have  it,  for  the  laborer  is 
worthy  of  his  hire,  and  we  should  be  prepared  in  this 
country  to  pay  the  highest  legitimate  prices,  not  only 
for  eight  hours  of  honest  manual  work  each  day,  but 
for  eight  minutes  or  eight  seconds  of  the  inspired  work 
which  develops  a  great  idea  and  involves,  perhaps, 
employment  for  thousands. 


Who  would  be  foolish  enough  to  denounce  the  large 
fortune  of  the  man  who  invented  the  Bessemer  steel 
process,  adding  thousands  of  millions  of  dollars  to  the 
wealth  of  this  country  alone? — he  was  only  half  paid, 
no  matter  how  much  he  got. 

And  the  man  who  in  any  direction  works  to  develop 
the  country,  to  give  employment  to  others,  to  make  new 
homes,  open  new  territory,  devise  new  industries,  is  a 
great  benefactor,  well  worthy  of  his  hire  as  a  laborer 
in  the  higher  fields.  America  should  be  prepared  always 
to  encourage  him  and  pay  him  gladly  and  ungrudgingly 
the  highest  price  for  the  highest  pushing  ability. 

If  a  man  uses  his  brains  and  his  money  to  build 
a  railroad  in  a  new  place,  developing  agriculture,  back- 

74 


ing  his  good  judgment  with  his  capital,  making  an 
opening  for  many  industries  and  many  homes,  that 
man  should  be  encouraged  and  rewarded  to  the  full. 

He  is  a  very  small  man  who  envies  the  success  of  the 
legitimate  higher  worker.  He  should  rejoice  in  that 
success  and  wish  that  it  might  be  greater. 

The  great,  heavy  ball  of  progress  needs  a  great  deal 
of  pushing,  and  there  is  room  on  its  surface  for  every 
man,  woman  and  child  to  push  unceasingly. 

We  should  honor  the  man  whose  persistent  plodding 
does  most  of  the  work  in  the  long  run.  We  should 
honor  also  those  whose  big,  individual  conceptions  have 
done  So  much. 

Incidentally,  each  of  us  ought  to  question  himself 
and  ask  himself  whether  he  is  pushing  and  doing  his 
little  share,  or  just  sitting  about  and  watching  others 
work. 


Keep  your  head  clear,  with  regular  sleep,  hard  think- 
ing, wise  living,  constant  observation. 

Start  now,  young  man,  ahead  of  the  others,  and  they 
will  never  catch  up — if  you  stick  to  it. 

It  is  not  special  brilliancy  that  makes  success,  but 
persistency. 


What  men  vmnt  to  do,  they  can  do.  They  want  gold, 
and  they  get  it,  wherever  it  is.  Prove  that  gold  is  at 
the  North  Pole,  1,000  Pearys  will  arise,  and  corpses 
will  mark  the  road  to  the  new  gold  fields. 

75 


Poverty — the  Great  Curse 

Clutching  hands  represent  the  grip  of  poverty,  the  grasp  in 
which  debt  Tiolds  you,  the  powerful  curse  that  Tceeps  men  miser- 
able and  ana:ioiis.     Poverty  is  slavery.     Fight  it. 

Young  men,  and  old  men,  fight  poverty  as  you  would 
fight  slavery.  Ask  the  old  and  they  will  tell  you  that 
poverty  is  the  great,  widespread  curse. 

Not  wealth  is  necessary  to  happiness,  but  freedom 
from  poverty  that  grinds,  poverty  that  worries,  poverty 
that  makes  a  man  the  slave  of  any  man  who  has  a  dollar 
— that  is  necessary  to  happiness. 

You  have  seen  pictures  of  slave-traders  rushing 
through  the  African  forests  and  poor  blacks  fleeing 
before  them. 

What  the  slave-catcher  was  to  the  black  man  on  the 
Gold  Coast,  poverty  is  to  you  today. 

If  you  are  young,  if  the  dollars  slip  through  your 
fingers,  and  you  feel  that  the  future  will  take  care  of 
itself — think  about  it  for  a  while. 

The  grasping  hand  of  poverty  is  above  every  man; 
every  man  lives  in  danger  of  this  powerful  clutch  unless 
he  has  regulated  his  life  with  wisdom — and  actually 
lives  today  in  such  a  way  as  will  make  it  impossible 
for  poverty's  grip  to  seize  him. 


The    word    ** mortgage,"    which    means    '*a    death 
pledge,'*  is  a  curse  upon  many  homes  and  many  lives. 

7<i 


Dr.  Chas.  P.  Steinmetz 


"There  never  Vwed  a  man  nvho  never  had  a 
chance."  Dr.  Chas.  P.  Steinmetz  came  into  this 
nvorld  severely  handicapped  by  nature.  But 
he  overcame  all  obstacles  by  sheer  vuill  and 
ambition  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  Octo- 
ber, ig22,  'was  one  of  the  greatest  scientists  in 
the  Ivor  Id — ivhose  name  will  live  forever. 

[See  page  I'fX 


It  makes  men,  women  and  children  homeless.  It  turns 
old  age  into  the  streets.  It  is  merciless  and  cruel  as 
in  the  old,  primitive  times,  when  death  itself  could  be 
made  the  penalty  for  failure  to  pay  the  death  pledge. 

Death  in  thousands  of  cases  would  be  more  merciful, 
less  painful,  than  the  mortgage  against  which  men  fight 
year  after  year,  paying  out  interest,  struggling,  hoping, 
and  at  last  giving  in. 


Keep  out  of  poverty — ^keep  out  of  debt. 

The  dollar  you  spend  so  quickly  today,  the  other 
dollar  tomorrow,  and  the  day  after,  might  mean  later 
independent  manhood,  power  to  control  your  time,  direct 
your  career. 

Money  enough — though  it  be  but  ten  cents  a  day 
more  than  you  spend — means  freedom,  independence, 
the  right  to  look  any  man  in  the  eye  as  his  equal. 

And  poverty,  debt,  the  spending  of  ever  so  little  more 
than  you  actually  have,  means  slavery  now,  anxiety, 
humiliation  in  the  future. 


Poverty  deprives  children  of  edAication — and  so  it 
means  ignorance. 

Poverty  deprives  children  of  care  and  good  food — • 
and  so  it  means  disease. 

Poverty  takes  away  men's  courage,  drives  them  to 
despair,  makes  them  seek  relief  wherever  it  can  ie  found 
— and  so  poverty  means  drunkenness. 

"Whenever  you  find  men  miserable,  poor  and  under- 
paid you  will  find  ignorance  and  drunkenness. 

Wherever  you  better  conditions  and  lift  the  weight 
at  poverty,  drunkenness  and  ignorance  diminish. 

77 


"Whatever  your  age,  habits,  or  condition,  there  are 
two  things  you  can  do — better  yourself,  or  make  things 
worse. 

It  is  absolutely  in  your  power  to  make  your  life 
dignified,  independent  and  satisfied. 

However  old  you  may  be,  or  discouraged,  it  isn't  too 
late  to  fight  against  the  curse  that  weighs  on  millions, 
the  curse  of  present  poverty,  and  that  other  curse,  almost 
as  great,  dread  of  poverty  in  the  future. 

It  is  in  your  power  to  be  free  if  you  will.  Spend 
less  than  you  make,  and  you  will  find  that  spending  less 
means,  in  almost  every  case,  earning  more. 

If  a  man  puts  into  learning  and  thinking  the  hours 
and  vitality  formerly  devoted  to  frivolous  spending,  he 
will  soon  find  his  power  to  earn  increased. 


If  the  majority  of  men  are  worried,  hard  up,  living 
alone  from  day  to  day,  it  is  because  going  in  debt  is 
easy  and  keeping  out  of  it  difficult. 

Every  day  temptation  comes  to  spend  this  and  that. 

On  a  certain  day  everybody  must  have  a  new  hat, 
and  gets  it — ^he  thinks  he  must  spend  as  much  as  any- 
body else  does — there  goes  one  chance  of  saving. 

Each  man  thinks  he  must  dress  as  well  as  somebody 
else  does. 

A  million  young  fools  think  they  must  drink  when  it 
is  offered  them — also  that  they  must  buy  a  drink  in 
their  turn,  which  is  idiotic. 

Tens  of  thousands  of  married  men  are  kept  poor 
because  they  imagine  that  they  must  do  as  well  as  some- 
body else  does — too  often  their  wives  help  them  to  keep 
poor. 

78 


A  few  years  from  now  it  won't  make  mucli  difference 
to  you  whether  you  got  a  new  hat  on  March  1,  1922, 
or  not — ^but  it  will  make  a  big  difference  whether  you 
have  a  few  thousand  dollars  saved  up  or  a  few  dozen 
men  trying  to  collect  bills  from  you. 

When  you  can  say  truly  that  you  owe  no  man  a 
dollar,  people  always  like  the  way  you  look.  They 
find  no  fault  with  your  dressing. 

All  the  varnish,  fine  clothing,  new  hats,  new  shoes, 
can't  do  you  a  bit  of  good  when  you  and  everybody 
else  know  that  you  can't  afford  those  things. 


It  isn't  easy  to  save  and  be  independent.  If  it  were 
everyone  would  be  independent.  But  it  is  possible 
to  keep  poverty  away. 

It  is  possible  to  be  a  free  man,  afraid  of  no  one,  con- 
trolled and  bossed  by  nobody. 


You  can  be  free  if  you  will.  It  is  in  your  power 
to  say  to  yourself:  **I  may  not  be  rich,  but  I  shall 
never  be  poor.  I'll  earn  all  that  I  can  in  the  present, 
and  I'll  save  so  much  of  every  dollar  for  the  days  that 
are  to  come." 

You  would  have  a  poor  opinion  of  the  savage  on  the 
Gold  Coast  if  you  found  him,  when  the  slave  drivers 
were  abroad,  thinking  of  anything  except  escape  from 
those  hunters. 

Yet  we  are  all  of  us  here  with  the  slave-hunter  of 
the  future  among  us. 

Ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  know  what  poverty 
means,  but  ignore  the  knowledge. 

79 


They  know  that  if  they  cannot  save  and  begin  to 
get  aliead  today  there  is  no  earthly  reason  why  they 
should  hope  to  do  that  at  a  later  day — ^yet  they  ignore 
that  knowledge. 


What  is  the  important  thing  in  education?  It  is 
iniagmution.  That,  to  all  brain  work,  is  what  rain  and 
sunlight  are  to  flowers. 

Without  imagination  everything  is  barren. 


A  house  without  Shakespeare,  the  Bible,  a  good 
dictionary  and  a  good  encyclopaedia  is  like  a  machine 
shop  without  tools,  or,  worse  like  a  restaurant  without 
food. 


80 


Luther  Burbank 


"Galileo,  Copernicus,  Kepler,  Neivton,  ivere 
not  satisfied  ivith  the  fairy  stories  about  a  flat 
earth  and  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  revolving 
around  our  miserable  little  planet."  And  Luther 
Burbank — the  plant  ivizard — has  given  so  much 
to  the  ivorld  because  he  ivas  not  satisfied  nvith 
accepted  theories  but  ivanted  to  find  out  for 
himself,  \_See  page  8^2 


The  Unknown  Land 

Of  all  life's  tragedies  the  most  cruel  is  the  mother's  good-ly 
to  a  dead  child.  Simple  faith  has  mercifully  softened  the  hlow 
for  so  many  millions  of  mothers. 

''Like  sheep  they  are  laid  in  the  grave;  death  shall  feed  on 
them;  and  the  upright  shall  have  dominion  over  them  in  the 
morning ;  and  their  heauty  shall  consume  in  the  grave  from  their 
dwelling. ' ' 

The  great  mystery  of  our  brief  life  is  death. 

History  is  a  long  procession  of  human  beings  reach- 
ing thousands  of  years  back — an  endless  procession 
arriving  on  earth,  active,  hating,  loving,  accumulating, 
striving  for  a  moment,  then  going  back  into  the  earth. 

In  the  sight  of  Time  our  lives  are  as  brief  as  the 
light  that  a  firefly  shows  on  a  Summer  night.  Each 
has  one  spark  of  life  that  goes,  then  death,  and  the 
mystery  of  the  unknown. 


How  rarely  human  beings  discuss  death,  how  rarely 
they  think  of  it,  how  little  the  mind  dwells  upon  one 
great  fact  that  confronts  all  of  us — death  and  the  end, 
a^nd  darkness. 

A  few  fear  death — cannot  bear  to  think,  or  talk  of 
it.  A  great  majority  forget  it,  ignore  it.  Even  the 
old  look  upon  death  as  a  distant,  far-off  thing,  with 
scarcely  any  real  meaning  for  them. 

Yet  death  is,  in  reality,  the  only  absolute  certainty, 
**the  rest  is  silence." 

Certainly  this  long  sleep,  night  that  ends  our  earthly 

81 


struggle,   parting  from   the   body  and   mysterious  d<Sa 
parture,  may  well  be  discussed  often. 


A  beautiful  painting  by  an  English  artist,  *'The 
Unknown  Land,''  illustrates  death  in  its  most  tragic, 
dreadful  and  cruel  form — the  taking  of  a  young  child 
from  the  mother. 

Of  all  suffering,  none  has  equaled  that  of  the  mothers 
that  have  put  their  young  children  into  the  grave. 
Millions  of  mothers  go  through  that  agony  upon  this 
earth  every  year.  Every  child's  death  is  a  fearful 
tragedy,  a  spiritual  crucifixion.  Only  the  mother  of  a 
child  knows  what  it  really  is. 

When  you  think  of  the  death  of  children  and  the 
suffering  of  mothers,  the  apparent  frightful  injustice, 
the  cutting  off  of  young  lives,  tender  flowers  that  have 
scarcely  begun  their  existence,  you  appreciate  above  all 
the  wonderful  power  of  religion,  the  consolation  of 
faith. 

A  cold-blooded  English  philosopher,  asked  what  he 
thought  about  God  and  a  Creative  power,  replied,  **I 
have  no  need  of  that  hypothesis."  He  was  wrong. 
Nearer  to  the  truth  was  the  saying  of  the  cynical  French- 
man: ''If  there  had  been  no  God,  it  would  have  been 
necessary  to  invent  one." 

The  world  would  indeed  have  been  a  black  and  dreary 
place  for  humanity,  and  for  the  mothers  whose  children 
are  taken  from  them,  but  for  faith,  and  the  hope  that 
faith  gives. 

Those  that  have  fed  the  earth's  population  have  been 
benefactors  of  men,  and  benefactors  also  those  that 
clothed  their  fellows,  taught  them,  protected  them  from 

82 


cruelty.  But  the  greatest  benefactors  have  been  the 
spiritual  leaders  that  have  given  to  humanity  religion, 
faith. 

**Like  sheep  they  are  laid  in  the  grave;  Death  shall 
feed  on  them — and  their  beauty  shall  consume  in  the 
grave  from  their  dwelling," 

But  that  is  not  the  end  of  the  Psalmist's  thought,  for 
he  says :  ^^But  God  will  redeem  my  soul  from  the  power 
of  the  grave;  for  He  shall  receive  me." 


There  are  in  this  world  all  kinds  of  minds,  all  sorts 
of  faiths,  simple  and  complex. 

There  is  the  man  of  intellect  who  realizes  that  justice 
miist  rule  in  a  universe  so  marvelously  conducted. 
There  is  the  simple  mind  that  sees  just  above  the  clouds 
a  heaven  of  solid  gold  and  precious  stones.  There  is 
faith  of  some  kind  in  every  human  being,  in  the  agnostic, 
even  in  the  atheist.  The  latter  has  faith  in  himself, 
and  has  made  of  himself  and  of  his  own  intelligence 
a  preposterous  god. 

Among  all  different  faiths,  the  most  blessed  makes 
the  mother  feel  that  the  child  she  lays  away  is  happier 
than  it  would  have  been,  that  it  dwells  with  the  other 
children  of  whom  it  is  said,  *' their  angels  do  always 
behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven. ' ' 

The  sufferings  inflicted  upon  women  in  this  world 
would  have  been  too  horrible  to  contemplate,  worthy 
of  a  fiend  blacker  than  any  ever  painted,  if  it  were  not 
for  faith  that  tells  the  mother  she  will  see  her  child 
again. 

To  add  to  the  knowledge  of  men,  increase  their  power 
of  thought  and  discrimination,  is  a  good  thing.    To  take 

83 


away  faith,  without  supplying  knowledge  and  strength 
of  character,  is  brutality  and  cruelty.  Millions  of 
mothers  have  actually  believed  that  they  could  see  an 
angel  taking  a  child  to  realms  of  eternal  happiness, 
where  the  child  will  wait  for  the  mother  to  come. 

^Yho    would    disturb    a    picture    that    has    consoled 
millions  of  mothers? 


The  great  orator,  Burke,  old,  bitter,  disappointed, 
lost  a  son  to  whom  he  was  passionately  devoted.  He 
expressed  the  thought  of  millions  when  he  heard  of  the 
boy's  death.  *'What  shadows  we  are,  what  shadows 
we  pursue!" 

When  we  realize  what  death  means,  life  and  this 
world  do  seem  but  shadows. 

You  sit  with  this  publication  in  your  hand,  your 
eye  follows  the  line,  and  your  mind  follows  the  train 
of  thought  that  comes  as  you  look  upon  this  picture. 
Everything  seems  solid  and  substantial.  You  take  the 
paper  up  and  put  it  down.  You  can  move  here  or  there, 
chop  down  the  tree  outside  the  window,  dig  a  hole  in 
the  ground,  travel  around  the  earth,  talk  to  your  friend 
at  a  distance  with  magic  power  over  the  wire — or  ivitli- 
out  a  wire. 

You  are  one  of  the  rulers  of  this  earth,  a  power  and 
a  reality. 

And  before  the  earth  shall  have  turned  on  its  axis 
many  more  times,  you  and  the  paper  and  all  that  you 
have  thought  will  disappear — and  nothing  will  be  left, 
except  what  you  may  have  added  to  the  knowledge  of 
human  beings. 

84 


A  man  should  think  of  death,  in  order  to  stimulate 
himself  to  better  work,  harder  work,  during  the  short 
life  that  remains. 

He  should  think  of  death  fearlessly,  actually  helieving 
that  there  is  no  real  death;  that  the  so-called  death, 
making  everything  else  seem  unreal,  is  itself  unreal  and 
has  no  existence. 

The  body  disappears.  This  solid  earth  itself  will 
disappear  in  time,  stars  and  planets  that  surround  us 
will  lose  their  shape  and  dissolve  like  the  body  which 
we  inhabit. 

But  the  power  hack  of  the  stars,  and  the  power  back 
of  the  thought  in  your  brain  and  thai  thought  itself 
can  never  Me.    That  is  the  only  real  thing. 

It  is  interesting  to  believe,  as  some  do,  that  death 
came  because  the  first  man  and  woman  sinned.  And 
that  we  have  gone  on  dying  ever  since. 

It  is  interesting  also  to  believe  that  death  is  inevitable, 
because  our  material  brain  can  receive  only  so  many 
impressions,  because  the  impulse  of  life  with  which  we 
begin  our  careers  can  last  only  so  long,  because  death 
is  necessary  to  wipe  out  the  writings  of  a  lifetime  that 
cover  the  slate  of  the  mind,  and  to  bring  us  back  here 
with  a  clean  slate  to  begin  at  a  new  point  in  human 
knowledge. 

The  thoughts  of  other  men  and  of  past  ages  concern- 
ing death  are  intensely  interesting  to  the  serious  man, 
showing  as  they  do  the  fact  that  religion  itself — as  men 
have  created  religion — is  based  upon  thought  of  death 
and  largely  upon  fear  of  death. 

We  all  die,  and  each  of  us  answers  differently  the 
question:  '^What  happens  after  death? '^ 

The  red  Indian  told  himself  that  he  went  off  to  a 

85 


happy  hunting  ground  to  kill  and  eat  fat  bears  and 
buffaloes — and  to  have  squaws  as  usual  working  for 
him. 

The  Mohammedan  believes  that  he  goes  to  a  com- 
fortable heaven  not  unlike  his  own  harem,  and  that  he 
lives  forever  like  a  first-class  pig  in  a  first-class  sty. 

Others  of  higher  religious  development  cling  to  a 
faith  worthy  of  human  beings  and  more  nearly  worthy 
of  the  great  Power  that  rules  the  universe. 

"Whatever  your  belief  or  unbelief,  you  must  and  do 
believe  something.  Just  as  surely  as  the  lungs  breathe, 
just  so  surely  does  the  mind  heUeve. 

Can  you  and  do  you  analyze  and  understand  your 
own  beliefs?  Does  your  thought  get  away  from  the 
material  happenings  of  life  occasionally  and  deal  with 
absolute  facts  that  confront  us,  especially  with  the 
interesting,  exciting  fact  that  where  you  stand  today 
there  will  be  nothing  in  a  short  time;  that  the  body 
you  inhabit  will  ''like  sheep"  be  laid  in  the  grave? 
There  will  be  white  bones,  then  only  dust — and  where 
will  you  be?  Will  you  be  in  another  world,  blissful 
for  eternity,  or  will  you  be  nothing  at  all — like  a  candle 
that  goes  out,  or  will  you  be  back  here  in  another  body, 
continuing  as  one  atom  of  cosmic  consciousness  and  force 
humanity's  task  on  this  planet? 

"Whatever  you  believe,  tabulate  your  beliefs,  think 
over  the  one  great  question.  Nothing  is  as  exciting  as 
death,  nothing  as  interesting,  nothing  that  promises 
with  such  absolute  certainty  relief  from  monotony — 
nothing  that  ought  to  cause  more  pleasant,  exciting  and 
hopeful  speculation  in  the  mind  of  a  man  who  realizes 
that  all  mitst  be  well  now  and  hereafter  in  a  universe 
so  marvelously  and  justly  governed. 

86 


Keep  at  Your  Work,  and  it 
WiU  Keep  You 

Keep  away  from  the  "let  well  enough  alone'*  crowd.  Old 
''Well  enough"  is  the  general  of  calamity,  disaster  and  dis- 
appointment. There  is  no  such  thing  as  ''well  enough.'*  No 
matter  how  good  a  thing  is,  worTc  to  mukd  it  letter. 

We  hear  the  foolish  things  very  often — and  so  rarely 
hear  the  wise  things. 

Everybody  has  heard  repeated  over  and  over  the 
foolish  saying,  ''Let  well  enough  alone.'* 

Never  be  satisfied  with  anything.  And  don't  teach 
your  children  to  be  satisfied — keep  their  minds  free  from 
the  dull,  discouraging  talk  about  * '  well  enough. ' ' 

To  be  satisfied,  contented,  approving  yourself  and 
approving  conditions,  is  a  sign  of  smallness. 

Men  become  great  because  they  are  not  satisfied,  be- 
cause the  more  they  get  of  knowledge,  wealth  or  power 
the  more  they  strive  to  get. 

Columbus  was  not  satisfied  with  the  long  sea  voyage 
to  India — although  others  had  been  satisfied  for 
centuries.  And  because  he  was  not  satisfied  Columbus 
discovered  America. 

Galileo,  Copernicus,  Kepler,  Newton,  were  not  satis- 
fied with  the  fairy  stories  about  a  flat  earth  and  all 
the  hosts  of  heaven  revolving  around  our  miserable 
little  planet.  And  because  they  were  dissatisfied  they 
gave  us  our  wonderful  knowledge  of  astronomy  and  our 
glimpse  into  the  infinite — the  greatest  thing  that  we 
possess. 

87 


The  inhabitants  of  this  country  in  1776  were  not 
satisfied.  The  Tories,  friends  of  King  George  and  the 
English  Government,  advised  the  people  of  the  United 
States  to  let  well  enough  alone.  The  Tories  reminded 
American  colonists  that  England  would  protect  them, 
England  would  make  them  great,  England  would  do 
everything. 

But  the  colonists  were  not  satisfied  to  be  taxed  with- 
out representation,  and  because  they  were  dissatisfied 
this  country  is  a  nation  instead  of  being,  like  Canada, 
a  colony  governed  from  across  the  sea. 


Dissatisfaction  is  the  motive  power  in  individual  life, 
in  national  life,  in  commerce,  in  politics. 

^Millions  of  years  ago  creatures  that  inhabited  the 
ocean,  only  living  things  on  this  planet,  got  dissatisfied 
and  crawled  up  on  the  land — hideous  serpents  and 
lizards — dreadful  things  to  look  at  they  were  at  first 
But,  hi^kily,  they  were  dissatisfied. 

Some  of  them  became  birds  and  learned  to  fly. 

Some  developed  wings  with  hooked  joints  and  gave 
us  the  bats  and  all  the  pterodactyl  family.  Others 
developed  into  mammals,  and  moved  all  over  the  face 
of  the  world,  and  eventually  man  appeared  in  his  turn 
to  begin  his  long  career. 

He  appeared  because  the  wisdom  of  Nature  had  trans- 
planted dissatisfaction,  struggle  and  ceaseless  effiort 
throughout  all  animal  life. 

And  man  from  his  first  day  began  his  career  of  dis- 
satisfaction and  struggle.  Because  he  was  dissatisfied 
and  because  he  would  never  consent  to  let  well  enough 
alone,  he  struggled  through  the  stone  age,  and  the  age 

88 


of  bronze  and  the  various  primitive  ages  of  ignorance, 
brutality,  superstition  and  cruelty  to  his  present  degree 
of  partial  civilization. 

And  because  man  is  and  always  will  be  dissatisfied, 
his  growth  will  continue  until  he  shall  develop  into  a 
race  worthy  of  this  planet,  worthy  of  the  wonderful 
possibilities  that  the  human  race  inherits. 


Never  let  well  enough  alone.  You  might  as  well  be 
dead  as  contented.  You  were  put  here  to  work  for 
yourself  and  for  others,  and  especially  for  those  that 
are  to  come  after  you.  The  man  who  is  letting  well 
enough  alone  and  not  trying  to  do  better  might  as  well 
oe  off  the  earth  and  give  his  place  to  some  one  willing 
to  work.  He  does  not  deserve  the  noble  work  done  here 
hy  the  dissatisfied  before  he  was  born. 

Only  when  man  is  very  old,  when  his  life  is  practically 
all  behind  him,  has  he  the  right  to  rest  and  think  and, 
having  finished  his  days,  look  back  on  the  past.  And 
even  then,  on  the  last  day  of  his  last  year,  the  right 
kind  of  man  will  preach  wise  dissatisfaction  and 
ambition  to  the  young  and  go  into  his  grave  dissatisfied 
with  himself  for  not  having  done  better. 


We  might  all  be  using  hieroglyphics  now.  But  dis- 
satisfaction gave  us  our  alphabet,  and  the  written  book 
and  then  the  printed  book  and  shorthand  and  the  type- 
writer and  the  phonograph. 

We  might  all  be  traveling  across  country,  with  a 
backache,  on  a  camel's  back  like  the  Queen  of  Sheba, 
if  we  had  been  satisfied  with  camels  and  had  not  invented 

89 


the  two-wheeled  cart,  then  the  four-wheeled  wagon,  the 
stage  coach,  the  steam  engine,  the  express  train,  the 
rubber-tired  automobile  and  the  flying  machine. 

Today  the  Queen  of  Sheba  would  call  King  Solomon 
up  on  the  telephone,  make  an  appointment  for  that 
afternoon  and  be  home  in  time  for  dinner — all  because 
the  kings  and  queens  and  the  ordinary  people  that  have 
followed  her  were  dissatisfied. 

She  too,  was  dissatisfied,  poor  lady.  She  had  heard 
about  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  and  was  bound  to  go  and 
look  at  him.  Probably  travel  was  improved  somewhat 
by  her  orders  when  she  came  home  aching  all  over. 


Be  dissatisfied  wdth  your  work  especially,  for  it  is 
what  you  do  that  counts,  not  what  you  think  about 
yourself  or  what  you  imagine  you  will  do  in  future. 

Be  dissatisfied  with  your  supply  of  information  and 
try  to  get  more,  no  matter  how  much  or  how  little  you 
may  have.  The  libraries  are  open  and  the  knowledge 
is  in  them. 

Be  dissatisfied  with  what  you  do  for  those  that  depend 
upon  you  or  that  have  a  right  to  depend  upon  you. 

Old  Well  Enough  is  a  sleepy,  harmful,  dismal  hum- 
bug. Don't  have  him  in  your  neighborhood.  Never 
let  well  eTiough  alone — make  it  better. 


When  young  men  sigh  for  money  and  power  let  them 
remember  that  those  things  are  not  found  on  the  streets, 
or  in  "good  luck,"  but  inside  of  each  person's  skull. 

90 


Young  Men  Shall  See  Visions — 
Old  Men  Shall  Dream  Dreams 

"For  youth  and  physical  power  there  are  the  joys  of  amHtion, 
of  selfish  hopes  and  striving,  THE  SEEING  OF  VISIONS.  For  all 
age,  after  a  life  well  spent,  there  is  the  beauty  of  dreams,  plan- 
mng  for  others,  UNSELFISH  HAPPINESS. 

There  are  many  periods  in  the  lives  of  human  beings, 
each  with  its  possibilities  of  happiness  and  compensa- 
tion. 

Each  period  of  life  is  happy,  and  the  life  of  youth 
and  of  age  ought  to  be  as  far  apart  as  the  valley  and 
the  mountain  peak. 

Thomas  A.  Edison  indignantly  puts  away  the  sug- 
gestion that  he  should  begin  to  rest  in  old  age,  stop  the 
hard  work  and  change  his  life.  He  declares  that  life 
must  be  all  hard  work,  the  same  steady  work  from  the 
day  when  the  brain  begins  its  maturity  to  the  day  when 
it  is  put  away  in  the  grave. 

Edison  is  wrong.  Man  is  not  put  here  to  be  fastened 
to  the  plough  like  a  beast  of  burden  to  pull  all  his 
life.  There  is  one  life  for  youth,  and  another  different 
life  for  age. 

The  Bible  tells  in  few  and  beautiful  words  the 
separation  of  youth  and  age:  ''And  your  young  men 
shall  see  visions,  and  your  old  men  shall  dream  dreams.  * ' 

The  life  of  the  young  man  is  his  visions,  hope  of  the 
future,  plans  of  achievement  and  success  for  himself. 
From  his  boyhood  he  sees  visions,  follows  them  to 
success  or  defeat. 

91 


Then  comes  old  age,  when  man  dreams  dreams. 

Youth  is  the  age  of  striving  and  selfishness;  old  age 
the  period  of  dreaming  dreams  for  tho  young  and  for 
the  future  that  age  is  not  to  see. 

In  our  civilization  the  trouble  is  that  all  is  planned 
for  youth  and  too  little  for  age. 

The  man  who  can  lift  the  load,  run  swiftly,  hit  hard 
and  push  his  fellow  down  the  hill  is  the  man  for  whom 
all  plans  are  made.  There  is  little  place  or  honor  in 
the  world  of  today  for  the  old ;  little  heed  is  paid  to  their 
dreams,  there  is  little  appreciation  of  their  kindness 
and  unselfishness. 

But  it  will  not  always  be  thus.  The  day  will  come 
when  youth  will  listen  with  respect  to  the  teachings 
of  the  old  and  look  with  love  and  reverence  upon  the 
unselfishness  of  the  old. 

The  young  man  in  his  full  strength,  climbing  the  hill, 
meeting  and  overcoming  obstacles,  adding  to  the  knowl- 
edge and  possessions  of  his  fellow  men,  indifferent  to 
pain  in  the  pursuit  of  his  object,  is  an  admirable  being 
animated  by  a  thinking  mind. 

Far  more  admirable  and  beautiful  is  the  old  age  of 
peace  and  kindness.  The  old  man  looks  upon  the  grand- 
child, dreaming  dreams  for  that  child's  welfare,  think- 
ing not  of  himself,  yet  deeply  and  intelligently  con- 
sidering the  future  in  which  he  is  to  have  no  share, 
guiding  and  restraining  impetuous  youth,  and  wisely 
stimulating  imagination.  There  is  a  sight  more  to  be 
admired  than  any  accomplishment  of  fiery  youth. 

So  it  is  with  women  that  have  created  the  human 
race,  borne  its  burdens  and  shared  so  little  in  its  honors. 

The  young  woman  in  all  her  beauty  and  power,  with 
her  courage  in  childbirth  and  her  marvelous  capacity 

92 


for  devotion,  is  yet  not  as  beautiful  or  as  noble  a  speci- 
men of  our  race  as  tlie  white-haired  grandmother,  un- 
selfishly devoted  to  younger  people,  happy  in  the 
memories  of  youth,  serene  in  the  peace  of  old  age, 
unselfish,  benevolent  and  as  far  in  peace,  dignity  and 
beauty  above  the  turmoil  and  passionate  eagerness  of 
youth  as  is  the  white  cloud  above  the  black  soil  cut  into 
furrows. 


It  will  be  well  for  the  world  when  human  beings 
realize  that  they  live  in  one  life  muny  lives.  Then  their 
lives  will  be  divided  properly  that  in  each  year  mind 
and  body  may  do  their  best,  and  give  to  the  Spirit  the 
closest  relationship  with  the  universe  and  the  sense  of 
fullest  accomplishment. 

The  trouble  is  that  we  put  into  one  age  the  duties 
and  the  feelings  of  another.  Our  children  are  men  and 
women  before  they  have  really  been  children.  And 
the  old  are  cursed  with  anxiety  that  should  be  borne 
by  vigorous  youth  alone. 

There  is  little  honor  for  the  aged,  and  our  civiliza- 
tion lays  upon  nine-tenths  of  all  human  beings  such  a 
load  of  hard  labor  and  selfish  struggle  that  they  cannot 
grow  old  in  dignity. 

The  visions  of  youth  are  clouded  by  unworthy,  selfish, 
petty  ambitions.  The  dreams  of  age  are  made  hideous 
by  poverty,  anxiety  and  other  evils  that  old  age  should 
never  know. 

However,  a  better  day  is  coming  quickly.  For  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  this  earth  there  are  entire 
great  nations,  all  of  whom-  can  read  and  thinks  if  they 
wiU, 

93 


Selfishness  "will  die  out  as  thonght  and  intelligence 
progress.  Knowledge  is  no  longer  the  possession  of  a 
few,  keeping  the  majority  in  ignorance  and  in  want. 


Already  we  see  in  the  old  age  of  our  richest,  most 
powerful  men  signs  that  point  to  a  better  future.  The 
very  rich  give  away  their  money  intelligently,  to  help 
human  beings  on  this  earth. 

In  their  plans  for  education,  distributing  knowledge, 
combating  disease,  they  dream  dreams  of  a  better  and 
happier  world.  Great  fortunes  are  no  longer  spent  to 
bribe  unseen  powers  and  buy  eternal  felicity  for  the 
individual  and  not  important  soul.  The  rich  man  of 
today  plans  for  the  happiness  of  those  that  he  has  to 
leave  on  this  earth.  He  dreams  dreams  for  the  earth 
dwellers. 


Already  in  an  imperfect  way  we  see  realization  of 
what  we  take  to  be  the  meaning  of  that  text  from  the 
Bible. 

A  young  man  starting  out,  even  in  our  distorted 
civilization,  sees  visions  of  wealth  and  power  for  him- 
self. If  he  has  the  power  he  gets  wealth,  and  in  his 
old  age  dreams  of  a  better  world,  gives  back  tens  of 
millions  to  those  from  whom  he  took  the  money  and 
power  that  he  cannot  and  would  not  take  beyond  the 
grave. 

We  hope  that  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison,  who,  like  a 
hero,  has  serv^ed  his  fellow  men  as  few  have  done,  will 
change  his  mind,  and  decide  at  least  eight  or  ten  years 
from  now  to  give  up  the  hard  work  and  devote  his 

94 


life  from  seventy  years  of  age  onward  to  the  dreaming 
of  dreams,  the  contemplation  of  the  marvelous  universe 
that  lies  around  us  in  the  vastness  of  space,  the  wonder- 
ful future  possibilities  of  his  home-earth,  and  the  in- 
telligent and  wonderful  race  that  will  one  day  inhabit  it. 


Nobody  needs  the  whole  world  to  choose  from. 
One  chance,  one  opportunity  to  show  what  there  is 
in  you  is  plenty. 


Don't  let  an  occasional  change  of  mind  discourage 
you,  or  make  you  think  you  lack  character. 


**Have  you  something  to  do  tomorrow;  do  it  today.'' 
— Benjamin  Franklin.  Easy  to  say.  It  was  his  ability 
to  take  the  advice  that  made  him  Benjamin  Franklin. 


Fear  dreads  the  light,  and  knowledge  is  the  only 
light. 


In  prohibition  territory  whiskey  has  not  been  driven 
out.  Wherever  there  is  prohibition  there  is  whiskey, 
sold  in  secret,  and  whiskey  of  the  most  poisonous  kind. 


Don't  be  ashamed  of  your  little  knowledge. 

But  do  be  ashamed,  if  you  do  not  add  to  it,  whenever 
you  can,  and  especially  if  you  fail  to  make  it  useful 
to  your  fellow-men. 

95 


The  Importance  of  Religion 
in  Man 

The  Great  Napoleon,  agnostic  and  liostile  to  religion,  yet 
pointed  to  the  stars  from  the  deck  of  the  ship  on  the  way  to  his 
last  prison,  St.  Helena,  saying:  "Say  what  you  please,  some 
one  created  and  controls  all  that."  He  said  at  St.  Helena: 
'^Thfre  is  so  much  that  one  does  not  Jcnow,  that  one  cannot 
explain,"  Lord  Bosehcry,  in  his  "Napoleon,  the  Last  Phase," 
says:  "One  of  the  hools  that  Napoleon  loved  most  to  read 
aloud  teas  the  Bible — and  he  was,  we  are  told,  a  great  admirer 
of  St.  Paul."  This  editorial  is  written  hy  request  to  te  read 
in  a  Young  Men's  Bible  Class. 

A  RELIGION  is  the  one  progressive  force  in  this  world. 
Keligious  feeling  gives  to  man  the  power  that  has  lifted 
him  above  the  other  animals,  and  has  lifted  his  eyes 
from  the  earth  and  its  selfish  interests,  to  the  sky,  the 
stars,  and  highest  abstract  speculation. 

Of  all  animals  that  live  and  feel  and  suffer  upon  this 
earth,  man  alone  looks  upward.  The  eagle  flying  in  the 
daj-time,  the  owl  at  night,  look  always  downward  for 
something  to  kill  and  eat — they  have  power  to  fly,  no 
power  to  send  their  thoughts  to  the  glorious,  inspiring 
sun,  or  the  stars  that  shine  above  them. 

Man  alone  through  the  ages  gradually  standing  erect, 
has  at  last  fixed  his  gaze  upward,  and  for  a  few  thou- 
sand years  in  the  tens  of  thousands  that  he  has  lived 
on  this  earth,  his  chief  interest  has  been  religious. 

Religion  has  freed  men,  during  the  evolution  of 
religioas  thought,  from  brutalities,  superstitions,  hatred 
and  cruelty. 

96 


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Eeligion  freed  the  slaves,  abolished  infanticide,  and 
gave  to  the  serf  the  right  to  own  the  land  on  which  he 
worked. 

And  the  power  of  religion  has  only  begun  its  work. 

In  days  to  come  man's  true  religious  feeling  and 
conviction  will  free  children  from  the  torture  of  poverty, 
hard  work,  and  all  misery,  just  as  the  early  Christians 
saved  the  children  from  the  curse  of  infanticide  by 
holding  the  mothers  responsible  and  declaring  that  no 
child  could  go  to  Heaven  that  had  not  been  baptised. 

Religion  in  time  will  give  to  women  their  rights,  full 
protection,  including  the  protection  from  oppressive 
labor,  and  realize  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  who  was  the 
first  and  the  greatest  of  all  advocates  of  the  rights  and 
the  equality  of  women. 

Religious  feeling  is  as  varied  in  its  expression  as  the 
races  and  the  individuals  that  inhabit  the  earth.  And 
every  religious  feeling  has  its  value,  whether  it  be  the 
dull  mental  groping  of  some  negro  kneeling  before  an 
idol,  the  vague  feeling  of  Napoleon  on  the  ship  that 
carried  him  to  St.  Helena,  pointing  toward  the  stars 
and  saying  to  his  companions  and  his  jailers,  ''All  that 
means  something,"  or  the  feeling  of  such  a  man  as 
John  Brown,  actually  taking  seriously  the  words  of 
Christ,  ''One  is  your  Master,  and  all  ye  are  brethren.'' 

There  has  been  no  progress  on  this  earth,  except 
progress  born  of  religious  feeling — using  the  word 
religion  as  expressing  man's  duty  to  his  fellows,  and 
especially  to  the  weak  and  the  poor. 

Religious  feeling  and  enthusiasm  lend  power  to  the 
brain  and  develop  its  faculties.  Religion  is  the  highest 
expression  of  imagination,  and  imagination  is  man's 
greatest  force. 

97 


When  nations  and  individuals  become  indifferent  to 
the  highest  things,  fix  their  minds  exclusively  on  this 
earth,  its  selfish  interests  and  pleasures,  they  go  down 
and  soon  are  forgotten. 

The  man  living  upon  this  planet,  able  to  look  up  at 
the  stars  and  the  clouds,  whose  chief  interest  is  not  in 
the  power,  the  justice  and  the  law  that  rule  throughout 
the  universe,  is  as  much  to  be  pitied,  and  as  low  in  the 
intellectual  scale  as  some  dog  that  never  looks  upward—- 
unless  to  bark  at  a  cat,  or  a  squirrel  in  a  tree. 

Bible  classes,  organized  for  young  men,  are  of  especi&l 
value.  It  is  a  pity  that  they  are  not  more  numerous, 
more  largely  attended. 

A  man  may  begin  the  study  of  the  Bible  in  his  child- 
hood and  read  it  to  the  last  day  of  his  life,  always  find- 
ing new  inspiration,  new  thought  and  new  meaning. 

The  most  beautiful  and  powerful  writing  that  has 
ever  been  done  is  in  Isaiah. 

No  man  can  pretend  that  he  has  studied  his  own 
language  unless  he  is  familiar  with  the  Bible,  both 
the  Old  and  the  New  Testament. 

To  those  that  are  unfortunate,  the  Bible  offers  con- 
solation that  never  fails.  Millions  of  mothers  con- 
demned to  see  their  children  die  in  infancy  have  found 
comfort  and  strength  in  Christ's  words,  *' Their  angels 
do  always  behold  the  face  of  My  Father  which  is  in 
Heaven." 

For  those  upon  whom  the  troubles  and  sorrows  of 
the  world  press  heavily,  there  is  more  comfort  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  than  in  all  the  books  of  philosophy 
that  have  ever  been  written. 

"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit  *  *  * 

*' Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  ♦  ♦  * 

98 


**  Blessed  are  the  meek  *  *  * 

**  Blessed  are  the  merciful  *  *  * 

**  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you  and 
persecute  you." 

The  greatest  preacher  of  equality,  a  believer  in  the 
rights  of  man  more  powerful  and  earnest  than  all  the 
French  philosophers,  a  defender  of  women  and  children, 
one  whose  heart  was  always  with  the  sorrowful,  was 
the  founder  of  the  Christian  religion. 

There  is  comfort  for  the  poor  and  unhappy  and  a 
warning  for  the  rich  and  those  overconfident  in  their 
own  wisdom,  judgment  and  power  in  the  Bible. 

*'Go  to,  now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and  howl  for  your 
miseries  that  shall  come  upon  you. 

^'Your  riches  are  corrupted  and  your  garments  are 
motheaten. 

**Your  gold  and  silver  is  cankered;  and  the  rust  of 
them  shall  be  a  witness  against  you,  and  shall  eat  your 
flesh  as  it  were  fire.  Ye  have  heaped  treasure  together 
for  the  last  days. 

*' Behold  the  hire  of  the  labourers  who  have  reaped 
down  your  fields,  which  is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud, 
crieth:  And  the  cries  of  them  which  have  reaped  are 
entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth. 

*'Ye  have  lived  in  pleasure  on  the  earth  and  been 
wanton;  ye  have  nourished  your  hearts  as  in  a  day  of 
slaughter. ' ' 

If  a  man  appears  on  this  earth  with  a  new  idea  of 
kindness,  a  message  of  hope  for  the  poor,  a  plan  to 
take  the  burden  and  the  sorrow  from  the  backs  of  the 
weak,  he  is  mocked  and  jeered  by  those  that  consider 
themselves  wise.  It  is  a  good  thing  for  the  overcon- 
fident who  sneer  at  hope  and  earnestness  to  read  in 

99 


the  Bible  of  the  jeers  and  the  insults  poured  out  by 
those  that  surrounded  Christ  dying: 

*'And  they  that  passed  by  reviled  Him,  wagging  their 
heads. 

"And  saying,  *Thou  that  destroyest  the  temple,  and 
buildest  it  in  three  days,  save  thyself.  If  thou  be  the 
Son  of  God  come  down  from  the  cross.' 

"Likewise  also  the  chief  priests,  mocking  Him,  with, 
the  scribes  and  elders,  said: 

"  'He  saved  others;  Himself  he  cannot  save.  If  He 
be  the  King  of  Israel,  let  Him  now  come  down  from  the 
cross  and  we  will  believe  Him. 

"  'He  trusted  in  God;  let  Him  deliver  Him  now;  if 
He  will  have  Him ;  for  He  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God. ' 

* '  The  thieves  also,  which  were  crucified  with  Him,  cast 
the  same  in  His  teeth.'* 

Every  Bible  class,  and  every  man  and  woman  in  or 
out  of  a  Bible  class,  should  study  that  last  scene  in  the 
earthly  life  of  Christ.  The  brutality  and  ignorance  of 
the  mob  that  demanded  the  freedom  of  Barabbas,  the 
political  agitator,  when  they  might  have  freed  and 
heard  Christ;  the  journey  to  the  hill  outside  Jerusalem 
called  Golgotha,  meaning  "the  skull";  the  poor  women 
collecting  money  to  buy  and  give  to  the  condemned  a 
drink  that  should  stupefy  them  and  diminish  pain,  and 
the  touching  picture  of  Christ,  putting  the  rim  of  the 
cup  to  His  lips  and  refusing  to  drink,  refusing  to 
diminish  the  sorrow  and  horrible  suffering  that  He  had 
willingly  brought  upon  Himself  for  the  sake  of  others. 

In  all  the  history  of  the  world  there  is  no  picture 
such  as  that  on  Golgotha,  the  patient,  upturned  face  of 
the  sufferer  destined  to  change  the  world,  the  Roman 
soldiers  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  gambling  for  His  scanty 

100 


garments,  the  rabble  hooting,  the  thieves  on  either  side 
denouncing  Him  because  the  miracle  they  hoped  for  did 
not  come ;  the  faithful  women,  Mary  Cleopahs,  Mary  of 
Magdala,  Joanna,  wife  of  Khouza,  and  Mary,  the  mother 
of  Jesus,  watching  patiently  until  death  should  come, 
and  give  His  body  back  to  them. 

Many  are  the  wonderful  scenes  of  heroism  and  self- 
sacrifice  painted  in  history  by  men  willing  to  die  for 
the  truth.  But  there  is  nothing  to  compare  with  that 
one  great  picture,  the  crucifixion  and  the  last  words  of 
Christ:  *' Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do." 

Until  a  man  has  studied  the  character  of  Christ,  and 
the  effect  of  His  teachings,  no  other  study  is  worth 
while. 

Unless  a  man  possesses  a  deep  religious  feeling,  no 
other  feeling  is  worth  while. 

A  philosopher,  drunk  with  his  own  conceit  and 
scientific  research,  may  say  of  the  Divine  Being:  **I  have 
no  need  of  that  hypothesis. ' ' 

But  the  boast  is  false.  Every  wonder  in  Nature,  and 
every  proof  of  permanent,  unchanging  justice  and  law, 
demonstrate  that  there  is  need  of  that  ''hypothesis." 

Religious  feeling  opens  the  mind,  lifts  the  spirit  fron 
the  earth,  changes  man  from  a  selfish  animal  to  a  cosmic 
being  in  sympathy  and  in  touch  with  universal  life  and 
thought.  Pity  the  man  who  is  the  centre  of  his  own 
universe,  and  who  fails  to  realize  that  thought  is  given 
us  to  study  and  revere  the  infinite  with  which  religion 
alone  can  bring  us  into  contact  and  spiritual  fellow- 
ship. 


101 


The  Desert  of  Time  Wasted 

*'//  ojily  the  years  would  come  hacTc  again,  and  "bring  their 
chances  once  more."  Thai  is  the  cry  of  millions  of  remorseful, 
disappointed  men.  The  cry  is  vain.  The  hand  of  time  writes 
and  passes  on.  We  cannot  call  it  iack.  But  regret  for  time 
wasted  can  become  a  power  for  good  in  the  time  that  remains. 
And  the  time  that  remains  is  time  enough,  if  we  will  only  stop 
the  waste  and  the  idle,  useless  regretting. 

Don't  "Waste  Time. 

Those  three  words  should  be  in  the  mind  of  every 
man  every  day. 

They  should  be  repeated  over  and  over  in  every  pulpit, 
newspaper,  public  school,  in  every  family  group. 

Only  one  thing  we  have — time.  In  time  we  live,  and 
do  our  work. 

And  time  we  waste  like  spendthrifts,  forgetting  its 
value  and  our  small  supply. 


Wasted  time  is  a  great  desert,  its  presiding  genius  a 
silent,  cold,  heartless  sphinx  of  death.  On  the  sands 
of  that  desert  of  wasted  time  are  scattered  the  bones 
of  failures  and  the  footsteps  that  led  nowhere. 


Don't  waste  your  time.     Don't  waste  it  in  idleness; 

don't  waste  it  in  regretting  the  time  already  wasted; 

don't  waste  it  in  dissipation;  don't  waste  it  in  resolu* 

Mons  a  thousand  times  repeated,  never  to  be  carried 

ut. 

102 


Don 't  waste  your  time.  Use  it.  Sleep  and  work,  rest 
and  think. 

Save  part  of  the  time  of  yesterday  by  saving  part  of 
the  money  earned  yesterday.  Money  earned  in  days 
past  is  the  time  of  days  past. 

Save  the  time  of  tomorrow  by  planning  to  use  it  care- 
fully, thoroughly  and  systematically. 

The  best  of  us  have  already  wasted  time  enough  for 
the  creating  of  a  dozen  reputations,  for  the  doing  of 
ten  times  as  much  work  as  we  ever  shall  do. 

Time  is  wasted  that  devotes  itself  to  thought  of  time 
wasted. 


Don't  waste  time.  Remember  that  however  much 
time  you  may  have  wasted  already,  you  have  thne 
enough  left  if  you  will  use  it. 

The  old  man  has  no  excuse  for  mourning  chances 
that  are  gone  forever.  No  chances  are  gone  forever 
while  life  and  time  remain. 

You  have  seen  the  rising  sun  and  the  setting 
sun. 

They  look  different  to  you,  but  the  difference  is  in 
your  imagination. 

The  rising  sun  is  the  sun  of  youth,  and  the  setting 
sun  is  the  sun  of  age.  One  is  like  the  other.  The 
rising  sun,  like  the  setting  sun,  gives  heat  and  light  to 
the  earth  and  beauty  to  the  clouds.  And  no  man  can 
tell  the  difference  between  a  photograph  of  the  sun  that 
is  rising  and  the  sun  that  is  setting,  or  the  difference 
between  paintings  of  the  two  if  the  paintings  are 
accurate. 

103 


The  rising  sun  seems  to  ns  full  of  hope,  life  and 
promise.  The  clouds  that  the  rising  sun  paints  and 
illumines  seem  full  of  beauty  and  freshness  unknown 
to  the  clouds  of  the  later  day. 

The  setting  sun  seems  tired,  the  farewell  rays  seem 
different  from  the  early  rays  that  tell  of  the  coming 
day. 

But  the  difference  is  in  our  mvnds. 

In  the  morning  we  are  fresh,  full  of  ambition  and 
hope,  and  our  eyes  see  things  in  one  way. 

In  the  evening  we  are  tired,  some  illusions  have  gone, 
and  the  tired  eyes  see  different  colors  and  different 
lights. 


Actually,  sunset  and  sunrise  are  the  same. 

And  actually,  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  life  are 
the  same  as  regards  power  and  possibility,  if  we  can 
only  see  things  as  they  are,  not  be  discouraged,  and  not 
deceived  by  hours  and  years  that  have  passed. 

Your  time  in  the  day  is  as  good  as  ever  it  was. 

The  sun's  light  as  the  sun  goes  down  is  as  bright  as 
the  light  when  the  sun  comes  up. 

What  you  could  do  with  your  hours  forty  years  ago, 
you  can  do  in  those  hours  now,  if  you  vnU, 


Don't  waste  time. 

If  all  of  your  life  is  ahead  of  you,  plan  to  use  it  all, 
and  begin  with  the  present  hour. 

If  half  of  your  life  is  gone,  plan  to  make  the  remain- 
ing half  as  useful  as  the  whole  life  would  have  been 
without  the  determination,  the  incentive  and  the  knowl- 
edge of  age. 

104 


You  know  when  you  are  wasting  tiiue.  You  can  stop 
the  waste  if  you  will. 

Begin  now  to  save  and  use  your  only  real  possession. 

Time  slips  through  your  fingers  like  sand  through 
the  fingers  of  a  child  on  the  seashore.  Each  grain  of 
sand  is  an  hour,  and  each  handful  is  a  year. 

What  others  have  done  you  can  do  if  you  will.  Time 
enough  is  still  ahead  of  you.  The  last  days  are  as  good 
as  the  first  if  you  refuse  to  believe  in  any  difference. 

Whether  your  sun  be  rising  or  setting,  use  the  hours 
of  light  and  opportunity  that  remain. 

Soon  the  night,  the  darkness  and  the  cold  will  come. 
All  the  sand  of  time  will  have  run  through  your  fingers, 
and  your  chance  in  this  life  will  be  ended. 

'*Work,  for  the  night  is  coming,  when  man^s  work 
is  done." 


Between  hours  of  reading  think  steadily.  Thinking 
to  reading  is  like  gastric  juice  to  the  food.  Eeading 
mthout  thought  is  utterly  profitless. 


Every  man  is  knocked  down  at  least  once.     It  is 
sr*itting  up  that  tests  a  man. 


Of   all   weaknesses,   the   worst,   most    dangerous,   is 
fear. 


It  takes  a  long  while  for  an  idea  to  sink  through  the 
human  skuU. 

105 


You  Must  Do  Your  Own 
Climbing 

The  steps  are  high  aiid  hroad,  and  the  climl)  is  a  long  one — to 
REAL  SUCCESS. 

This  is  the  country  of  success;  we  hear  endless  talk 
about  it. 

Talk  varies  from  simple  advice  concerning  Lincoln, 
who  had  only  a  few  books,  few  chances,  but  made  the 
best  use  of  them,  all  the  way  up  to  complicated  recipes 
for  succeeding,  given  out  by  gentlemen  of  get-rich 
schemes. 

Certain  men  whom  we  call  successful,  meaning  that 
they  have  money,  have  "succeeded"  without  industry. 
They  are  gamblers.  Wall  Street  geniuses,  or  others  who 
with  tricks  have  got  the  better  of  their  fellow  men, 
hut  they  are  not  successful. 

Men  of  the  same  stamp  have  succeeded,  even  without 
sobriety  or  honesty. 

But  even  such  success  as  theirs  demands  certain 
qualities.  They  must  have,  at  least  temporarily,  self- 
denial.  They  must  hold  themselves  back,  husband  their 
resources,  keep  themselves  in  hand  until  they  have 
achieved  the  end  in  view. 

To  tell  a  young  man  that  he  needs  certain  qualities 
is  wasting  your  time — except  as  you  may  direct  attention 
to  the  possibility  of  developing  in  himself  the  essentials 
of  success. 

The  late  Collis  P.  Huntington,  asked  to  advise  a 
young  man,  said:  *'Take  ten  thousand  dollars  and  go 

106 


into  the  business  of  raising  rubber  trees/'    The  young 
man  said:    **I  have  not  got  ten  thousand  dollars." 

Mr.  Huntington  said :  * '  Well,  go  and  get  it  before 
you  come  to  me  for  advice.'* 


The  great  railroad  man's  attitude  is  much  like  that 
of  the  ordinary  adviser  of  the  young.  He  says,  **Be 
honest,  be  industrious,  be  self-denying,  be  courageous, 
patient,  sober" — but  he  does  not  tell  him  how  he  can  he 
these  things. 

To  make  a  real  success  you  must  have,  first  of  all, 
industry — the  faculty  for  hard  work.  That  quality  is 
greater  than  all  others  put  together.  And  you  can 
cultivate  that  quality  in  yourself. 

Map  out  what  you  are  going  to  do  each  day,  and  do  it. 
Never  let  yourself  get  into  the  habit  of  leaving  a  thing 
unfiiiished.  It  is  hard ;  for  some  it  is  almost  impossible. 
But  if  you  urill  it,  you  can  make  yourself  a  hard  worker 
eventually.    You  must  do  that — it  is  the  first  step. 

Self-denial  is  a  matter  of  self -education. 

Instead  of  putting  your  mind  on  the  question,  **How 
can  I  amuse  myself  or  dress  myself?"  say  to  yourself, 
^^Whai  can  I  do  without?" 

Self-denial  is  not  important  simply  because  it  saves 
your  money — it  is  especially  important  because  it  saves 
your  tinie  and  your  vitality.  Sobriety  is,  of  course,  a 
part  of  self-denial.  If  you  don't  smoke  excessively  or 
at  all,  if  you  don't  drink  excessively  or  at  all — ^you 
save  money  and  you  save  vitality.  If  you  don't  pay 
foolish  attention  to  dress — only  neatness  and  common 
sense    are    necessary    to    success — you    save    time    and 

107 


thouglit  that  many  put  on  useless  worrying  about  their 
personal  appearance. 

And  most  important  in  the  line  of  self-denial  perhaps 
is  to  make  yourself  not  worry  about  what  others  think 
of  you.  Try  to  earn  the  approval  of  those  worth  while, 
and  dismiss  from  your  mind  the  opinion  of  the  crowd 
that  means  nothing  to  you  and  can  do  nothing  for  you. 
More  men  waste  time  and  worry  on  the  opinions  of 
others  than  would  make  them  successful  if  they  could 
be  indifferent  to  public  opinion. 


Enthusiusm  is  one  gi'eat  factor  in  success.  It  is 
important  especially  because  it  helps  a  man  to  get  a 
start. 

Unfortunately,  enthusiasm  is  a  quality  most  difficult 
to  cultivate.  It  is  a  part  of  a  man's  own  self,  like  his 
dark  hair  or  regular  features,  or  wide  shoulders.  Yet 
even  enthusiasm  can  be  cultivated,  and  it  should  be 
cultivated.  Begin  by  getting  out  of  your  mind  the 
critical,  complaining,  dissatisfied  feelings.  That  is  like 
pulling  the  weeds  out  of  a  field. 

If  you  can  get  out  of  your  brain  foolish  feelings  of 
complaint,  of  mortified  vanity,  you  will  be  clearing  the 
field  for  enthusiasm  to  grow. 

Enthusiasm  is  largely  a  matter  of  vitality,  health  and 
strength. 

Get  up  in  the  morning  after  eight  hours'  sleep,  and 
you  will  be  enthusiastic — ready  to  attack  any  proposi- 
tion. Get  up  with  five  hours'  sleep  after  a  night  fool- 
ishly spent,  and  you  will  have  no  strength  for  enthusi- 
asm.    Cultivate  your  strength,  save  it,  and  train  your- 

108 


self  to  look  enthusiastically  and  hopefully  at  the  world, 
scorning  its  difficulties. 

Honesty  has  been  talked  of  ever  since  the  writing 
of  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  long  before.  There 
are  many  false  reputations,  and  not  a  few  big  fortunes, 
built  on  dishcniesty.  There  are  some  men  who  might 
haye  been  rich  if  they  had  been  dishonest,  but  who  are 
poor  now.  But  be  sure  that  real  success  comes  only 
to  the  honest  man,  to  the  man  who  thinks  and  works 
and  treats  other  men  honestly. 

Whatever  you  do  has  got  to  he  done  dhsolutely  hy 
the  exercise  of  your  own  will  power:  if  you  deceive 
yourself,  blaming  others  instead  of  yourself,  you  will 
never  get  aJiead.  You  must  he  your  own  most  severe 
judge.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  wish  for  success  or  to 
admire  the  qualities  that  make  success.  You  must 
develop  those  qualities  and  use  them. 

There  is  one  feature  of  real  success  about  which  we 
shall  say  little.  That  is  unselfishness.  It  is  the  greatest, 
highest  quality  of  all — although  the  usual  talkers  on 
success  do  not  mention  it.  Unselfishness  enters  into  our 
modern  calculations  but  little.  Yet,  any  man  who  would 
be  truly  great  in  his  achievements  must  have  for  in- 
spiration an  unselfish  desire  to  be  of  use  to  other  men. 
He  may  pile  up  millions,  but  he  will  not  be  one  of  the 
world's  really  great  men  unless  guided  by  the  con- 
sciousness that  a  man's  first  duty  and  last  duty  is  to 
try  to  make  others  better  off  and  happier  for  his  having 
lived  on  the  earth. 


Where    ''the    fire    of   talent   smoulders,"   it   usually 
bursts  into  fiame  and  shows  itself. 

109 


Be  Grateful  to  the  Power 
That  "Pulls"  You 

A  man  lelieves  that  he  is  pulling  a  tig  load,  when  he  is  simply 
part  of  the  harness.     Another  and  higger  power  is  pulling  him. 

Draw  in  your  mind  this  picture  of  a  performance 
at  the  circus. 

A  wagon  is  heavily  loaded  with  twenty  human  beings. 
Traces  are  bound  to  the  loaded  wagon  and  are  fastened 
to  the  arms  of  a  young  man.  That  man  with  only  Ms 
own  strength  could  not  possibly  pull  the  load. 

But  in  front  of  the  young  man  stands  a  carefully 
trained  elephant.  For  that  elephant,  able  to  pull  three 
freight  cars,  the  load  is  nothing. 

The  elephant  is  harnessed,  and  the  traces  fastened  to 
his  powerful  shoulders  are  united  in  a  soft,  carefully 
cushioned  pad  at  the  back  of  the  performer's  neck. 

When  all  is  ready  the  partner  of  the  man  hitched 
to  the  wagon  gives  the  order  to  the  elephant.  If  the 
big  animal  should  move  too  rapidly,  if  he  should  fail 
to  start  slowly  and  gently,  he  might  possibly  break  the 
performer's  neck. 

But,  intelligent  as  well  as  powerful,  the  big  beast 
leans  slowly  forward  until  he  has  set  the  wheels  of  the 
wagon  rolling,  then  goes  along  at  a  slow  walk,  pulling 
the  man,  who  in  his  turn  pulls  the  wagon. 


It  may  seem  almost  unbelievable  that  a  man  could 
stand  this  strain  upon  the  back  of  his  neck,  and  that 

110 


with  the  muscles  of  his  arms  he  could  pull  this  heavily 
loaded  wagon,  even  with  the  elephant  pulling  him. 

But  there  is  no  difficulty  about  it.  Any  young  man 
of  ordinary  strength  could  perform  this  feat — the 
principal  thing  was  to  have  the  idea,  and  to  realize  how 
fascinating  it  would  be  to  the  public  to  watch  the 
elephant  pulling  the  man  by  the  neck,  and  the  man 
pulling  a  wagon  and  twenty  human  beings  with  his 
arms. 

If  at  play  in  a  tug-of-war  you  have  pulled  against  a 
number  of  other  men,  you  know  that  the  muscles  of  the 
body  are  capable  of  withstanding  a  strain  much  greater 
than  that  which  they  are  capable  of  exerting. 

For  instance,  if  you  have  in  your  nerves  and  muscles 
and  in  the  leverage  of  your  body  power  enough  to  pull 
one  thousand  pounds,  you  could  easily  pull,  as  this  man 
does,  several  times  as  much  if  there  were  a  power  ahead 
of  you  dragging  you  on. 

The  only  thing  necessary  is  to  have  the  elephant 
hitched  up  in  front  to  do  the  pulling. 


Take  away  the  elephant  and  the  harness  back  of  the 
man's  neck,  and  you  would  see,  apparently,  a  marvelous 
thing.  You  would  see  one  slightly  built  young  man 
pulling  twenty  others.  If  you  saw  this  without  seeing 
the  elephant — if  the  elephant  and  his  harness  were  made 
invisible,  and  you  saw  this  young  man  walking  around 
drawing  such  a  load — you  would  believe  in  miracles  or 
believe  that  the  man  had  some  force  above  humanity. 

Many  a  man  gets  the  credit  for  pulling  a  load  that 
he  is  not  pulling  at  all. 

Many  a  man  seems  to  be  doing  something  very  won- 

111 


derful  when  in  reality  another  man — another  mind,  not 
visible  in  the  work,  but  actually  at  the  work — does  the 
hea^-y  pulling. 

You  may  see  the  salesman,  the  editor,  the  floor  walker^, 
the  engineer,  the  architect — any  kind  of  a  man  engaged 
in  any  kind  of  work — apparently  doing  something 
wonderful. 

Yet  he  is  not  doing  it  all.  An  unseen  power — another 
man,  another  brain,  perhaps  some  little  man  with  a 
small  body  and  a  big  head,  who  keeps  out  of  sight — 
is  doing  the  real  work. 


Many  of  us  have  elephants — big,  strong,  but  unseen 
— pulling  us.  "We  ought  at  least  to  be  grateful  to  the 
elephant — give  him  a  fair  chance— ^since  he  does  the 
hardest  work — and  do  our  part,  big  or  little,  in  the 
general  performance. 

It  would  be  a  good  thing  if  many  young  men  working 
in  all  departments  of  activity  in  America  should  occa- 
sionally feel  gratitude  toward  the  big  elephant,  the  big 
man,  the  one  whose  power  and  experience  pull  them 
along,  and  do  what  they  can  to  encourage  him,  to 
deserve  his  help  and  the  benefit  that  they  get  from  his 
pulling. 


Every  one  of  us  without  exception  is  pulled  along 
or  piisJied  ahead  by  some  force  unseen. 

It  may  be  the  man  in  the  inside  office,  usually  invisible. 

It  may  be  the  woman  at  home  setting  a  good  example, 
giying  to  the  man  at  work  the  inspiration  and  the  power 
that  no  one  else  could  give. 

112 


Charles  M.  Schwab 


"The  steps  are  high  and  broad,  and  the  climb 
is  a  long  one— to  REAL  SUCCESS." 

Charles  Schivab,  master  of  America's  greatest 
industrial  enterprise,  luas  not  afraid  to  under- 
take the  climb.  Step  by  step  he  rose  from  the 
bottom   by   hard  nvork,  self-denial  and  courage. 

[_See  page  io6] 


It  may  be  paternal  affection,  enabling  a  man  to  do 
for  a  weak  child  what  he  could  not  possibly  do  for 
himself. 

Very  often  the  power  is  one  that  has  long  disappeared 
from  the  earth,  a  father  or  a  mother  whose  energy  and 
inspiration  persist  and  do  in  the  life  of  the  son  at  work 
what  the  elephant  does  in  the  circus  picture. 


We  are  all  of  us  pushed  or  pulled,  all  of  us  indebted 
to  a  power  above  our  own  and  beyond  our  own. 

And  we  should  all  at  least  be  grateful,  from  the 
small  clerk  who  is  made  secure,  protected  in  his  daily 
living  by  a  man  working  himself  to  death  at  the  head 
of  the  firm,  to  the  man  of  genius,  so  called,  who  owes 
the  power  that  the  world  admires  to  a  mother  unseen 
and  unremembered. 

Don't  forget  the  elephant  that  pulls  you;  he  grateful. 
In  this  way  you  can  add  to  your  own  force,  and  perhaps 
in  time  become  the  power  that  shall  pull  others. 


An  interesting  fact,  announced  by  the  Health  Board 
of  N.  Y.  For  every  inhabitant  of  New  York  there  is 
one  rat.  The  rat  population  of  the  globe  is  greater  than 
the  human  population  by  far. 


A  builder  of  railroads  is  a  builder  of  civilization.  He 
brings  men  together,  frees  them  from  slavery  by  making 
machines  do  the  work. 

1)3 


Thought  and  Spirit 

What  we  call  "thought"  is  spirit  expressed  through  the  brain 
of  man. 

A  READER  asks: 

*'Do  you  consider  spirit  and  thought  as  identical,  or 
is  thought  the  outcome  of  spirit  united  -with  matter?" 

Readers  will  be  interested  in  talking  over  among  them- 
selves the  interesting,  intelligent  question. 

Half  an  hour  of  intelligent  discussion  developing  in- 
dividual thought  is  often  better  than  many  hours  of 
reading. 

You  may  have  seen  Rodin 's  marble  statue  called  * '  The 
Thinker." 

Thought  and  its  work  include  all  the  achievements  of 
man. 

Compare  spirit  and  thought  to  the  genius  of  the 
musician  and  the  sound  which  issues  from  the  musical 
instrument. 

What  the  instrument  is  to  the  musician  the  brain  of 
man  is  to  the  spirit  that  inspires  thought. 

However  great  the  musician,  his  genius  must  depend 
for  its  expression  upon  the  instrument  which  gives  it 
reality  in  the  physical  world,  through  sound  waves  pro- 
duced in  the  material  atmosphere,  striking  nerves  that 
'iarry  mu>sic  to  the  brain. 

Give  Paderewski  a  pianc  out  of  tune  and  he  can 
give  you  only  discord  and  lack  of  harmony.  Or  give  to 
Paganini,  the  greatest  violinist  that  ever  lived,  a  violin 
c:it  of  tune,  and  in  spite  of  the  genius  of  the  musician 

114 


you  will  hear  only  hideous,  disagreeable  sounds.  The 
spirit  of  music  must  have  the  right  instruments  for  its 
expression. 

The  spirit  that  inspires  thought,  the  spirit  of  man, 
must  have  the  right  brain  for  its  expression. 

The  more  complicated  and  highly  developed  the  instru-. 
ment,  the  more  displeasing  to  the  ear  is  the  result  when 
the  instrument  is  out  of  tune.  A  violin  is  infinitely 
worse  than  a  banjo  when  both  are  out  of  tune,  and  the 
banjo  worse  than  the  tom-tom  of  the  savage. 

Among  human  beings  a  highly  developed  brain  out  of 
tune — for  instance,  the  insane  ravings  of  a  powerful 
genius  like  Nietzsche,  with  his  mind  broken  down — is 
infinitely  more  painful  and  shocking  than  in  the  case  of 
a  human  being  with  a  mind  in  comparison  feeble  and 
simple. 


Our  minds  are  so  little  accustomed  to  deal  with  the 
abstract,  we  live  so  much  in  the  material  world, 
inanimate  objects  have  so  much  meaning  for  us  that 
many  human  beings  live  and  die  without  ever  thinking 
at  all  of  the  spirit,  yet  the  spirit  is  the  only  real  thing 
in  the  universe. 

And  thought  is  the  expression  of  spirit,  working 
through  a  more  or  less  imperfect  human  brain. 

Bring  yourself  to  think  for  some  time  earnestly  of 
the  nature  and  mysterious  power  of  spirit.  There  is 
no  thought  more  inspiring,  fascinating,  bewildering. 

Consider  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  with  their  tremendous 
power,  the  vast  moving  machinery,  the  cities  that  are 
lighted,  the  blazing  streets,  the  moving  cars,  all  due, 
apparently,  to  the  power  in  Niagara.    Yet  not  due  to 

115 


that  power  in  reality  so  much  as  to  spirit  expressed  in 
the  thought  of  man.  It  was  spirit  that  harnessed 
Niagara.  It  was  spirit  that  transferred  the  power  of 
the  FaUs  to  distant  cities. 

Yet  that  spirit  has  neither  shape  nor  weight,  size 
nor  color,  taste  nor  smell.  You  ask  a  man  ''What  is 
the  spirit?"  and  he  must  answer  that  it  is  nothing, 
since  it  occupies  no  space,  and  cannot  be  seen  or  felt. 
And  yet  he  must  answer  also  that  the  spirit  is  every- 
thing. The  world  only  exists  as  it  is  because  we  see 
it  in  the  eyes  of  the  spirit.  The  optic  nerve  takes  a 
picture,  sends  it  to  the  brain  and  the  spirit  sees  the 
picture. 

It  was  spirit  acting  on  the  brain  of  Columbus,  and 
through  him  upon  others,  that  brought  the  first  ship 
to  America. 

It  is  spirit  working  and  expressing  itself  through 
the  thought  of  brains  more  and  more  highly  developed 
that  has  gradually  brought  man  from  his  low  and  vile 
condition  of  savagery  to  his  present  comparative  degree 
of  civilization.  And  that  same  spirit,  working  in  future 
ages  through  brains  infinitely  superior  to  any  that  we 
can  conceive,  will  establish  real  harmony  on  this  planet. 

Do  not  say  to  yourself  that  this  is  an  abstract  dis- 
cussion, unworthy  the  attention  of  serious  men.  What 
are  you  but  a  spirit  ?  You  have  your  hands,  your  feet, 
your  face,  your  clothing,  your  money,  your  work.  But 
all  that  is  nothing,  except  for  the  spirit  that  lives  inside 
of  you,  the  force  which  alone  is  you.  In  your  life  there 
is  a  spirit,  your  own,  which  hovers  above  you  or  dweUs 
within  you,  or  influences  you  perhaps  from  its  home 
irillions  of  miles  away.    You  can  tell  nothing  about  it. 

Yet  you  know  that  that  spirit  exists,  and  that  it  is 

116 


yon,  and  tliat  except  for  that  spirit  which  animates  yon, 
picks  you  np  when  you  fall,  inspires  you  in  success  and 
comforts  you  in  failure  and  misfortune,  there  would  be 
nothing  at  all  in  this  life,  and  you  would  not  be  different 
from  one  of  the  stones  in  the  field  or  one  of  the  dummies 
that  the  tailor  sets  in  front  of  his  store. 

Compare  the  spirit  and  the  material  world  as  you  see 
it  with  the  genius  that  dwells  in  the  brain  of  a  great 
painter  and  the  works  which  that  painter  has  to  do. 

Every  statue,  painting  and  church  that  Michael 
Angelo  created  already  existed  in  his  spirit.  But  the 
spirit  could  not  be  content  with  that  existence.  It  had 
to  visualize  itself,  it  had  to  see  itself  created. 

The  spirit  really  lives  completely  only  when  it  sees 
itself  reflected  in  the  material  world. 

So  it  is  with  all  of  us  on  a  big  or  little  scale. 

All  the  mother  love  is  in  the  spirit  of  woman.  But 
it  has  complete  existence  only  when  the  mother  holds 
the  child  in  her  arms  and  sees  in  reality,  in  flesh  and 
blood,  the  being  that  she  loves  and  has  created. 

The  achievements  of  the  greatest  men  were  all  locked 
up  within  them  from  the  first,  but  the  spirit  of  such 
men  can  reach  full  realization  only  when  the  spirit, 
acting  through  the  brain  and  expressing  itself  through 
thought,  creates  the  work. 


Every  man  should  think  of  himself  from  time  to  time, 
not  as  a  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  pounds  of 
bone,  flesh  and  muscle,  but  as  the  working  instrument, 
on  this  earth,  of  an  inspiring  immortal  spirit. 

Every  one  of  us  should  do  his  best  to  permit  his 


spirit  to  find  true  expression  through  good  thought 
and  useful  action. 

"We  know  that  all  useful  work  is  the  result  of  sound 
thought.  If  we  realize  that  thought  itself  is  the  expres- 
sion of  the  spirit,  we  are  moved  by  a  sense  of  duty 
to  give  to  that  spirit  the  best  possible  expression  of 
which  we  are  capable,  the  best  chance  that  it  can  have, 
dwelling  in  imperfect  bodies  and  speaking  through  im- 
perfect minds  such  as  those  we  possess. 

It  is  an  inspiration  to  realize  that  men  here  on  earth, 
gradually  improving,  becoming  less  animal  and  more 
spiritual  as  the  centuries  pass,  are  destined  to  develop 
in  their  own  physical  bodies,  instruments  capable  of 
interpreting  properly  the  spirit  that  animates  us. 


Human  beings  improve  from  generation  to  generation 
— that  we  know.  The  improvement  is  due  to  the  affec- 
tion of  fathers  and  mothers  for  each  other  and  for  their 
children. 

This  race  of  ours  one  hundred  thousand  years  ago 
was  made  up  of  animal-like  creatures,  with  huge,  pro- 
jecting jaws,  enormous  teeth,  small  foreheads  and 
hideously  shaped  bodies.  Gradually  through  the  cen- 
turies we  have  changed,  the  brute  has  gradually  dis- 
appeared, the  prognathous  face  of  man  has  become 
flatter.  The  jaw  has  gone  in,  the  forehead  has  come  out, 
and  in  that  forehead,  gradually,  thanks  to  the  devotion 
and  patient  labor  of  women,  we  are  developing  a  brain 
that  will  ultimately  give  decent  and  adequate  expression 
to  spirit. 

To  many  this  question,  **Are  spirit  and  thought  iden- 
tical?" may  seem  uninteresting?  if  not  foolish. 

118 


But  that  question  would  seem  infinitely  more  foolish 
to  two  pigs  dozing  in  their  sty.  A  pig  would  say,  *  *  What 
do  I  care  about  spirit  or  about  thought?  I  care  about 
swill  and  about  nice  soft  mud." 

There  are  some  human  beings  who  approach  that 
mental  attitude. 

But  there  are,  fortunately,  many  others  who  will  be 
grateful  to  the  reader  who  sends  the  question  at  the 
head  of  this  editorial. 


Spirit  and  thought  are  identical  in  the  sense  that 
the  genius  of  the  musician  and  the  sound  that  you  hear 
when  his  music  is  played  are  identical.  In  music 
the  sound  represents  and  interprets  the  musician's 
spirit.  And  the  interpretation  and  the  accuracy  of 
that  interpretation  depend  upon  the  orchestra,  the 
violin  or  the  piano.  When  the  instruments  are  out  of 
tune  it  is  not  the  genius  or  the  musician,  but  a  mis- 
representation that  you  hear. 

And  with  our  human  brains,  most  of  them  out  of 
tune,  most  of  them  incapable  of  expressing  anything 
but  the  merest,  faintest  reflection  of  true  spiritual  life, 
there  is  as  yet  very  little  harmony. 

But  it  will  come.  There  have  appeared  on  this  earth 
a  few  men  and  a  great  many  women  incapable  of  a 
selfish  thought,  gladly  sacrificing  everything  to  duty, 
giving  up  their  lives  readily  for  the  truth  or  patiently 
enduring  long  lives  of  dulness  and  sorrow  for  the  sake 
of  others.  Through  such  men  and  women  the  spirit 
has  spoken  clearly.  And  in  days  to  come  the  human 
race  mill  he  made  up  of  men  and  women  of  that  kind. 

119 


Through  the  perfected  brain  of  man,  the  cosmic 
spirit,  in  which  each  of  us  is  a  conscious  atom,  will 
speak  clearly,  and  then  this  earth,  our  little  corner  in 
the  universe,  will  be  truly  harmonious,  governed  by 
the  spirit  distinctly  expressed  and  instantly  obeyed. 


Make  a  man  think  and  he  will  take  care  of  the  devil. 


A  woman's  first  thought,  always,  is  for  the  welfare 
of  children. 


DO  NOT  STARVE  CHILDREN 

You  wouldn't  expect  a  full  day's  plowing  from  a 
horse  if  it  had  been  starved  as  a  colt.  You  needn't 
expect  a  full  day's  work  from  a  human  being  if  it  has 
been  half  starved  as  a  child. 


120 


Do  Our  Souls  Come  Back  and 
Live  in  Other  Bodies? 

The  doctrine  of  reincarnation  says  "yes."  That  doctrine 
wo^lld  certainly  promote  charity,  human  solidarity. 

Hundreds  of  millions  of  human  beings  believe  that 
after  death  our  souls  return  here  and  enter  other  bodies. 

In  India,  Japan  and  elsewhere  it  is  thought  that  the 
soul  of  a  human  being  sometimes  enters  the  body  of 
an  inferior  animal. 

Many  a  religious  person  in  those  countries  refrains 
from  killing  a  fly  or  lizard,  lest  he  should  destroy  his 
own  great-grandmother. 

In  this  belief  of  reincarnation  a  system  of  rewards 
and  punishments  is  bound  up. 

It  is  thought  that  wicked  men's  souls  are  sent  back 
to  inhabit  the  bodies  of  low  animals — the  very  wicked 
man  is  sent  back  to  inhabit  the  body  of  a  woman. 

For  a  soul  to  go  through  existence  in  a  woman's  body 
is  looked  upon  as  a  great  calamity — and  none  need 
wonder  at  that  who  is  acquainted  with  life  in  India, 
where  poor  little  girls  are  married  at  nine,  ten,  or  even 
younger,  where  the  widows  until  lately  were  burned 
alive  when  their  husbands  died,  where  life  is  generally 
made  a  nightmare  for  w^omankind. 


There  is  a  great  deal  of  speculation  everywhere 
today  as  to  the  destiny  of  the  soul,  and  the  possibility 
of  its  coming  back  to  work  here  in  some  other  body. 

121 


MaEO'  men  among  those  religiously  inclined,  and 
even  among  clergymen,  do  not  accept  literally  the 
Jewish  conception  of  Heaven. 

Many  are  inclined  to  think  that  men  are  put  here 
to  do  some  actual,  useful  work  on  earth,  and  not  merely 
on  probation  previous  to  their  entrance  to  an  eternal 
home  of  solid  gold,  jaspar,  etc. 

This  writer  has  no  theory  to  offer  in  realms  where 
both  reason  and  experience  fail. 

But  the  reincarnation  theory  might  produce  good 
results  under  modified  conditions. 

In  olden  days,  vicious  men  used  to  reform  and  behave, 
in  their  old  age,  because  they  were  anxious  about  going 
to  Heaven — worried  by  disagreeable  stories  of  the  other 
place. 

If  we  could  all  believe  that  as  soon  as  we  die,  or 
shortly  after,  our  souls  come  back  to  inhabit  the  body 
of  some  new-born  child,  we  might  take  a  charitable 
view  of  other  people's  needs,  and  plan  very  industri- 
ously for  the  welfare  of  the  next  generation. 


Many  a  rich  man  on  his  way  to  the  train  or  boat 
drives  through  the  slums  of  a  great  city  and  looks, 
absent-minded  or  indifferent,  at  the  children  in  the 
streets,  tired,  hot,  ill-fed,  and  uncared  for. 

He  might  look  differently  at  those  children  if  he 
could  be  made  to  believe  that  a  few  short  years  would 
find  him  a  tenant  in  one  of  their  wasted,  underfed 
bodies. 

The  rich  woman  wearing  her  fine  apparel,  regardless 
of  the  tired  hands  and  the  aching  eyes  that  put  it 
together,  might  interest  herself  in  the  sewing  girl,  if 

122 


she  thought  that  a  few  years  would  find  her  back  on 
earth  and  at  work  in  a  stuffy  sweat-shop  room. 

The  selfish  plutocrat  who  has  built  up  his  millions 
from  public  franchises  spends  a  life  in  which  devotion 
to  others  has  no  part,  and  dies,  leaving  all  to  ruin  the 
two  or  three  children  that  he  leaves  behind  him. 

His  will  might  read  differently  if  he  believed  that 
his  soul,  going  out  the  back  door  of  life,  through  death^ 
would  instantly  come  back  through  the  front  door  in 
the  body  of  some  baby. 

There  would  be  no  trouble  in  getting  plenty  of  fina 
maternity  hospitals  for  poor  women  and  children  if  the 
rich  believed  in  the  reincarnation  theory — no  trouble 
in  getting  playgrounds,  or  comfortable  nurseries  where 
working  mothers  could  leave  their  babies  during  the 
day. 

If  the  enormously  rich  men  could  be  made  to  believe 
in  reincarnation,  they  would  realize  that,  as  the  poor 
outnumber  the  rich  a  hundred  to  one,  so  the  chances 
of  their  being  rich  in  the  next  existence  would  be  only 
one  in  a  hundred,  and  all  their  plans  would  change. 

The  millionaire  who  now  thinks  out  a  fine  sarco- 
phagus with  a  fine  mausoleum  for  himself,  and  a  careful 
tying  up  of  his  fortune  to  keep  it  away  from  the  mass 
of  the  people,  would  as  a  reincarnationist  think  more 
of  the  millions  of  poor  children  and  less  about  his  own 
funeral  pomp. 


The  most  beautiful  of  all  religions,  that  which  in  its 
spirit  will  last  forever,  no  matter  how  far  men  may 
progress  morally,  is  the  religion  preached  by  Christ 

123 


'^'becaMse  it  conwiand'ed  men  to  devote  themselves  im- 
selfishly  to  the  welfare  of  others. 

The  real  Christian  needs  no  selfish  urging  born  of 
a  belief  in  reincarnation. 

He  is  bound  to  work  for  others,  to  protect  poor 
children,  to  sympathize  with  unfortunate  women,  apart 
from  any  personal  interest. 

But  the  real  Christian  is  not  a  numerous  product  of 
civilization. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  a  new  religion — 
new  religions  of  various  kinds  spring  up  every  year. 

If  some  able  man  will  give  a  great  boom  to  the  theory 
of  reincarnation,  making  every  man  believe  that  a  few 
years  will  find  him  in  the  place  of  the  most  unfortunate 
of  mortals,  we  may  get  results  that  the  preaching  of 
abstract  unselfishness  does  not  always  produce. 


*' History,"  says  Henry  Ford,  *'is  bunk."  This  will 
startle  the  ghosts  of  Gibbon,  Michelet,  Froude,  Buckle, 
Parton  and  others  who  thought  they  were  doing  useful 
works. 


Education  means  to  lead  or  bring  out  of  the  child 
that  which  is  in  the  child. 

Ideal  education  is  shown  in  the  kindergarten,  where 
children  learn  as  they  sing  and  play. 


Not  popular  with  those  in  office  who  dislike  to  be 
disturbed,  but  valuable  to  the  people,  is  the  man  who 
tells  the  truth,  remembering  that  the  official  is  a  hired 
man,  not  an  autocrat. 

124 


♦*WeIl,  it's  Just  a  Friendly  Game" 

*'We  all  quit  about  even,  nobody  came  out  ahead,** 

They  were  coining  down  in  the  elevator  together, 
not  very  early,  not  very  late.  They  were  packed  in  one 
corner.  It  was  the  hour  when  the  crowd — ordinary, 
semi-failures — go  home  from  their  work. 

These  were  typical,  everyday  human  beings.  Their 
coats  were  not  very  warm,  not  very  new,  yet  fairly 
respectable. 

Their  faces  were  the  ordinary  kind,  not  much  con- 
centration— *'no  speculation,"  as  Macbeth  says  of  the 
ghost  of  Banquo^s  eyes  in  ''Macbeth." 

They  belonged  to  the  class  that  get  along  somehow, 
dodging  halfway  between  poverty  and  prosperity,  just 
managing  to  live,  while  others  are  going  up  and  making 
themselves  secure. 


This  was  the  conversation  that  the  rest  of  the  car 
overheard : 

**Well,  what  kind  of  a  game  do  you  play?" 

'^Oh,  just  a  little  friendly  game.  We  play  ten-eent  limit  a 
couple  of  hours  every  night.  It's  always  the  same  crowd  of  us, 
a  good  jolly  crowd,  all  friends.  It's  a  little  ten-cent  game,  un- 
til a  little  while  before  we  break  up,  then  we  have  a  few  twenty- 
five  cent  jackpots  all  around." 

''How  do  you  come  out;  who  wins  the  dough?" 

(We  quote  this  conversation  verbatim.) 

*'0h,  nobody  wins  in  the  long  run.    One  of  the  boys  started  in 

125 


once  to  keep  track  of  the  game  and  see  who  came  out  ahead,  but 
we  found  at  the  end  of  a  few  weeks  it  evened  itself  up,  it  was 
just  a  case  of  the  boys  letting  each  other  hold  their  money  for  a 
while,  and  then  getting  it  back." 

The  man  who  runs  the  elevator  said,  *^  Ground  floor 
—all  out." 

The  two  men  who  spend  two  hours  so  charmingly  each 
evening  got  cut  and  went  their  way. 


That  conversation  is  so  ordinary  that  it  bores  you. 
You  have  heard  the  same  talk  a  thousand  times. 

What  is  the  value  of  the  two  or  three  hours  that  are 
spent  in  the  ordinary  miscalled  '^friendly  game"? 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  no  friendly  gambling. 
There  is  a  hypocrisy  which  calls  the  gambling 
* 'friendly."  But  those  who  play  know  perfectly  well 
that  they  play  with  a  keen  desire  to  win. 

The  man  in  the  * 'friendly  game"  spends  two  hours 
or  more  risking  the  money  that  his  family  needs.  Hc^ 
has  been  wasting  his  own  time  and  his  own  chances. 


We  should  like  to  ask  the  young  men  who  waste 
their  time  on  * 'friendly  games"  whether  they  have 
ever  thought  what  it  is  that  makes  success. 

The  man  who  succeeds,  to  begin  with,  is  he  who  puts 
his  vital  energy  into  his  work. 

Each  man  has  within  himself  only  a  certain  limited 
amount  of  energy.  In  that  respect  he  is  like  a  dynamo 
in  a  power  house.  If  his  energy  is  used  up  in  one  way, 
for  instance,  in  the  aimless  concentration  of  a  poker 
game,  it  cannot  be  used  in  another  way  that  might 
bring  real  success. 

126 


The  successful  man's  attention,  vitality  and  interest 
are  centred  on  his  important,  hard  work. 

The  foolish  man  looking  forward  to  his  poker  game 
in  the  evening,  or  looking  forward  to  some  other  kind 
of  useless  dissipation,  is  simply  looking  forward  to  the 
opportunity  of  losing  and  wasting  his  chance. 

If  that  young  man  in  the  elevator  would  go  to  his 
home,  eat  his  dinner,  talk  for  a  short  time  with  one 
or  two  friends — ^not  trying  to  win  their  money  like  a 
drunken  Indian  on  the  plains — then  read  for  awhile 
some  book  of  real  value  and  go  to  bed,  looking  forward 
w-ith  interest  to  his  work  of  the  next  day,  as  he  now 
looks  forward  to  his  poker  game,  he  would  be  the  coming 
man  in  his  office. 


If  the  recording  angel  could  look  down — or  up, 
depending  on  the  earth's  position  in  its  revolution — 
on  all  the  "friendly"  poker  games  in  America,  he 
would  be  able  to  make  a  very  good  and  accurate  list 
of  the  future  failures  of  the  United  States. 

A  man  who,  after  early  youth,  continues  to  waste  his 
time  with  cards  amounts  to  little  ordinarily.  But  even 
the  card  players,  the  poor,  siUy  geese  of  the  friendly 
poker  games,  could  succeed. 

If  the  men  who  play  poker  or  gamble  on  the  races, 
with  waste  of  time  in  studying:  horses,  could  put  into 
their  work  the  real  energy  that  they  waste  in  gambling, 
these  men  would  he  successful. 

Outside  of  the  lunatic  asylums  and  the  homes  for 
idiots,  almost  every  human  being  has  the  possibility  of 
some  success  inside  of  him. 

It  is  not  stupendous  genius  that  makes  the  ordinary 

127 


successful  man.  The  men  of  millions  are  not  men  with 
brains  constructed  in  some  unusual  way.  And  the 
more  worthy  and  decent  successful  men — those  who 
work  unselfishly  for  others  with  good  results — are  not 
really  different  from  their  fellow  human  beings. 

Each  of  us  contains  in  himself  enough  force  a/iid 
energy  to  m-ake  him  succeed. 

But  the  difficulty  for  each  of  us  is  to  use  his  power 
in  the  right  way. 


There  is  enough  energy  wasted  in  poker  to  make 
a  hundred  thousand  successful  men  every  year. 

The  ingenuity  foolish  young  men  display  in  trying 
to  get  money  to  bet  on  races  would  make  them  really 
successful  in  starting  a  business  of  their  own,  if  they 
could  use  that  energy  in  the  right  way. 

There  is  plenty  of  energy,  plenty  of  desire  to  succeed, 
in  this  world. 

But  there  are  too  many  men  like  those  in  the  elevator 
whom  we  spoke  of  at  the  beginning  of  this  article. 

There  are  too  many  who  put  the  crumbs  of  their 
real  vitality  into  their  work,  and  put  the  whole  loaf 
into  their  dissipations. 

They  play  cards,  they  make  one  day  and  lose  the 
next.  They  spend  in  proportion  to  their  exceptional 
winnings  which  keeps  them  poor.  They  stint,  and 
often  lie  and  cheat  and  steal,  in  proportion  to  what 
they  lose,  which  makes  them  worthless.  And  in  the 
end  the  '^friendly  game"  in  which  they  think  that  they 
neither  win  nor  lose  means  that  they  lose  absolutely 
their  chance  in  life,  and  cannot  possibly  win  anything. 

Keep  away  from  friendly  games,  and  all  gambling 

128 


Madame  Curie 


"What  are  ive  here  for?  We  are  here  to  find 
our  ivork  and  do  it,  to  realize  our  duty  and 
do  it." 

Madame  Curie  has  found  her  ivork — ^without 
thought  of  money  or  fame;  she  has  helped  mil- 
lions by  her  discovery  of  radium  and  her  tire- 
less research.  \^See  page  ^j] 


games.  Don't  try  to  get  something  without  effort,  or 
without  giving  something  in  return. 

Remember  that  the  force  you  throw  away  in  dissipa- 
tion will  make  you  successful  in  real  work  if  you  will 
only  compel  yourself  to  be  a  worker.  Genius  itself— 
keep  that  always  in  mind — is  **a  capacity  for  taking 
infinite  pains.'' 

We  can't  all  be  geniuses,  but  we  can  all  take  infinite 
pains  if  we  will.  And  by  taking  pains  we  can  be  fairly 
successful  men,  entitled  to  our  own  respect  and  to  the 
respect  of  others,  even  though  we  may  not  turn  out  to 
be  geniuses. 


No  man  walks  to  success  on  velvet  carpet  all  the  way. 
He  is  to  be  pitied  who  does  not  know  it. 


Fate  is  a  big  blustering  bully,  and  like  all  bullies 
easily  conquered  if  you  make  up  your  mind  that  he 
shall  not  conquer  you. 


129 


Imagination  is  Power 

Develop  it,  encourage  it,  ESPECIALLY  IN  THE  TOUNa.     It  is 
the  chief  asset  of  the  human  brain. 

Once  more  about  the  power  of  imagination.  Child- 
hood is  beautiful  and  valuable  to  humanity  because  it 
is  the  period  of  strongest  imagination.  The  imagination 
of  the  child  is  the  forerunner  of  the  accomplishments 
of  the  man.  Happy  the  child  that  has  for  friend  an 
old,  sympathetic,  encouraging  mind,  one  eager  to  de- 
velop, slow  to  rebuke  or  discourage.  Fortunate  the  boy 
who  sees  visions,  lives  in  the  mind,  dreams  of  a  great 
past  and  a  beautiful  future.  Such  a  boy  promises 
honor  and  reward  to  the  father  and  mother  that  have 
made  sacrifices  for  him. 

Like  color  and  perfume  in  a  flower,  the  fruit  of  a 
tree,  imagination  is  the  highest,  noblest  attribute  of  a 
human  being.  It  is  the  quality  that  sees  truths  by 
intuition,  that  carries  the  mind  flying  through  space, 
the  forerunner  of  all  useful ,  material  achievements  of 
human  beings. 

Even  in  our  humble  animal  brothers  we  feel  that 
delight  in  the  unreal  plays  its  part.  We  feel  that  the 
eagle  or  the  chamois  is  taken  to  his  lofty  peaks  by  some 
superior  quality  of  spirit,  that  the  hog,  content  in  his 
mudhole,  represents  absence  of  imagination  that  lifts  the 
living  creature  above  earth  and  mud.  And  it  is  a  fact 
#hat,  as  you  take  imagination  from  men,  you  bring 
them  nearer  to  that  dull,  wallowing  animal  in  its  sty. 

130 


Does  anyone  doubt  that  imagination,  intangible, 
visionary,  without  real  existence,  is  the  necessary  fore- 
runner, the  creator  of  everything  that  we  have  worth 
while  f 

There  are  hundreds  of  milHons  of  fertile  acres  occu- 
pied  by  human  beings  here  in  the  United  States.  There 
are  millions  of  comfortable  homes.  It  is  a  wonderful 
nation.  "What  created  it?  Was  it  the  dull,  plodding, 
unimaginative  individual  putting  one  brick  upon  an- 
other, adding  one  street  to  another,  one  dollar  ta 
another  ? 

Not  at  all.  This  nation,  these  two  continents,  north 
and  south,  with  all  their  accomplishments,  and  all  their 
promise,  were  born  in  the  imagination  of  that  sailor, 
Columbus,  whose  mvnd  and  vision  broke  away  from 
the  old  routine  and  planned  a  new  way. 

And  our  great  West — do  you  suppose  that  was  the 
work  of  the  dull  materialists,  the  Puritans  with  their 
rum  for  the  Indians,  their  jails  for  those  of  different 
religious  belief,  their  love  of  money  and  their  ideas  of 
freedom,  which  quickly  took  the  form  of  oppression 
for  all  others  than  themselves?  No.  The  West,  its 
mines,  mountains,  rivers,  wealth  and  homes  are  due 
to  the  imagination  of  the  pioneers,  the  vision  of  the 
old  frontiersmen. 


What  is  greatness?  Find  it  where  you  please,  select 
it  where  you  please,  you  cannot  separate  it  from 
imagination's  creative  power. 

Three  men  in  the  world's  literature  are  great  above 
all  others — Homer,  Dante  and  Shakespeare.  Their 
greatness  is  made  up  of  imagination,  and  nothing  else. 

131 


The  simple  tale  of  the  old  Greek,  the  complicated  tripTT 
vision  of  the  wonderful  Italian,  the  magnificently  ex- 
pressed ambition  of  the  great  English  poet,  are  all 
fabrics  of  pure  imagination.  In  **The  Tempest" 
Shakespeare  gives  to  Prospero  words  really  intended 
to  describe  his  own  work.  How  beautifully  imaginative 
those  words  are,  and  how  well  they  describe  the  work 
that  imagination  alone  can  do,  in  poetry,  in  music,  or 
in  the  wonderful  works  of  science  itself — 

**I  have  be-dimm'd 
The  noon-t?de  Sun,  call'd  forth  the  mutinous  Winds, 
And  'twixt  the  green  Sea  and  the  azur'd  Vault 
Set  roaring  war:    To  the  dread  rattling  Thunder 
Have  I  given  fire,  and  rifted  Jove's  stout  Oak 
With  his  own  Bolt:    The  strong-bas'd  Promontory 
Have  I  made  shake;  and  by  the  spurs  pluck 'd  up 
The  Pine  and  Cedar.     Graves  at  my  command 
Have  wak'd  their  sleepers;  op'd,  and  let  'em  forth 
By  my  so  potent  Art." 


Readers,  old  or  young,  be  workers,  for  the  daily  work 
is  the  daily  bread,  but  he  also  dreamers,  seers  of  visions, 
makers  of  plans,  believers  in  greater  possibilities. 

Cling  to  your  imagination,  to  the  power  of  planning 
and  hoping  and  believing.  The  man  who  has  lost  the 
power  of  imagination  has  lost  the  power  to  do  anything 
new.  That  which  we  call  a  genius  can  best  be  defined 
as  the  rare  individual  combining  the  actual  accomplish- 
ments of  manhood  and  experience  with  the  marvelous 
color  and  life-giving  imagination  of  the  child. 

132 


Benito  Mussolini 


"Fear  dreads  tlie  light,  and  knoivledge  is  the 
only  light."  Mussolini  has  banished  fear  from 
his  heart — ivhether  yon  approve  of  him  or  not, 
you  must  admit  his  tremendous  success  based 
upon  courage  and  the  dissemination  of  knoiul- 
edge.  \_See  page  95] 


We  Long  For  Immortal  Imper- 
fection— We  Can't  Have  It 

All  our  longings  for  immortalitj',  all  our  plans  fof 
immortal  life  are  based  on  the  hope  that  Divine  Provi- 
dence will  condescend  to  let  us  live  in  another  world 
as  we  live  here. 

Each  of  us  wants  to  be  himself  in  the  future  life, 
and  to  see  his  friends  as  he  knew  them. 

We  want  to  preserve  individuality  forever  and  ever, 
when  the  stars  shall  have  faded  away  and  the  days  of 
matter  ended. 

But  what  is  individuality  except  imperfection?  You 
are  different  from  Smith,  Smith  is  different  from  Jones. 
But  it  is  simply  a  difference  of  imperfect  construction. 
One  is  more  foolish  than  another,  one  is  more  irre- 
sponsibly moved  to  laughter  or  anger — that  constitutes 
his  personality. 

Remove  our  imperfections  and  we  should  all  be  alike 
— smooth  off  all  agglomerations  of  matter  on  all  sides 
and  everything  would  be  spherical. 

What  would  be  the  use  of  keeping  so  many  of  us 
if  we  were  all  perfect,  and  therefore  all  alike?  One 
talks  through  his  nose,  one  has  a  deep  voice.  But  shall 
kind  Providence  provide  two  sets  of  wings  for  nose 
talkers  and  chest  talkers?  Why  not  make  the  two  into 
one  good  talker  and  save  one  pair  of  wings? 

Why  not,  in  fact,  keep  just  one  perfect  sample,  and 
let  all  the  rest  placidly  drift  back  to  nothingness?  Or, 
better,  why  not  take  all  the  goodness  that  there  is  in  all 

133 


the  men  and  women  that  ever  were  and  melt  it  all 
down  into  one  cosmic  human  being? 


The  rain  drops,  the  mist  and  the  sprays  of  Niagara 
all  go  back  to  the  ocean  in  time.  Possibly  we  all  go 
back  at  the  end  to  the  sea  of  divine  wisdom,  whence 
we  were  sent  forth  to  do,  well  or  badly,  our  little  work 
down  here: 

Future  punishment  ?    We  think  not. 

One  drop  of  water  revives  the  wounded  hero — another 
helps  to  give  wet  feet  and  consumption  to  a  little  child. 
It  all  depends  on  circumstances. 

Both  drops  go  back  to  the  ocean.  There  is  no  rule 
that  sends  the  good  drop  to  heaven  and  the  other  to  boil 
forever  and  ever  in  a  sulphur  pit. 


Troubles  beset  us  when  we  think  of  a  future  state 
and  our  reason  quarrels  always  with  our  longings. 
"We  all  want — in  heaven — to  meet  Voltaire  with  his 
very  thin  legs.  But  we  cannot  believe  that  those 
skinny  shanks  are  to  be  immortal.  We  shall  miss  the 
snuff  and  the  grease  on  Sam  Johnson's  collar.  If  an 
angel  comes  up  neat  and  smiling  and  says  **  Permit 
me  to  introduce  myself — I  am  the  great  lexicographer, '^ 
we  shall  say  ''Tell  that  to  some  other  angel.  The  great 
Samuel  was  dirty  and  wheezy,  and  I  liked  him  that 
way. ' ' 

And  children.  The  idea  of  children  in  heaven  flying 
about  with  their  little  fluffy  wings  is  fascinating.  But 
would  eternal  childhood  be  fair  to  them?  If  a  babe 
dies  while  teething,  shall  it  remain  forever  toothless? 

134 


How  shall  its  mother  know  it  if  it  is  allowed  to  grow 
up? 

Listen  to  Heine — ^that  marvelous  genius  of  the  Jew- 
ish race: 

* '  Yes,  yes  I  You  talk  of  reunion  in  a  transfigured  shape.  What 
would  that  be  to  me?  I  knew  him  in  his  old  brown  surtout,  and 
so  I  would  see  him  again.  Thus  he  sat  at  table,  the  salt  cellar 
and  pepper  caster  on  either  hand.  And  if  the  pepper  was  on 
the  right  and  the  salt  on  the  left  hand  he  shifted  them  over. 
I  knew  him  in  a  brown  surtout,  and  so  I  would  see  him  again." 

Thus  he  spoke  of  his  dead  father.  Thus  many  of  us 
think  and  speak  of  those  that  are  gone.  How  foolish 
to  hope  for  the  preservation  of  what  is  imperfect! 

How  important  to  have  faith  and  to  feel  that  reality 
will  surpass  anticipation,  and  that  whatever  is  will  be 
the  best  thing  for  us  and  satisfy  us  utterly. 


135 


The  Existence  of  God — Parable 
of  the  Blind  Kittens 

The  notion  that  small  things,  the  petty  details  of  life, 
such  as  money  getting,  marriage  questions,  etc.,  are 
uppermost  in  the  modern  human  brain  is  entirely 
false. 

If  an  editor  asks:  **Is  marriage  a  failure?''  he 
receives  just  so  many  answers,  and  then  the  interest 
dies  out. 

If  he  asks:  ** Should  a  wife  have  pin  money?'*  or 
''What  is  the  easiest  waj  for  a  woman  to  earn  a  liv- 
ing?" he  ceases  to  receive  answers  after  a  short  time. 

But  to  questions  concerning  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  the  existence  of  God,  and  man's  destiny  here  and 
hereafter,  the  answers  are  endless.  Letters  on  such 
matters  have  been  received  here  by  thousands.  Every 
day  the  mail  brings  new  and  intelligent  contributions 
to  the  questions  that  have  kept  men  praying,  thinking, 
fighting  and  hoping  through  the  centuries: 

"Is  there  a  God,  anc   will  my  soul  live  forever?*' 


Very  interesting  are  the  expressions  of  faith  which 
fill  the  majority  of  the  letters.  Interesting  also  are  the 
letffers  of  doubters,  atheists,  agnostics  and  the  many 
intoxicated  with  a  very  little  knowledge,  who  have  de- 
cided to  substitute  their  own  wisdom  and  doubt  for  the 
belief  of  the  ages — the  belief  in  God  and  in  personal 
immortality. 

136 


Many  think  science  has  discovered  that  we  could 
get  on  very  well  without  a  God.  But  science  has  done 
just  the  contrary.  And  here,  if  you  please,  we  shall 
build  up  a  sort  of  parable: 


A  Man  had  a  box  full  of  motherless  blind  kittens. 
He  was  very  kind  to  them.  He  put  their  box  on  wheels 
and  moved  it  about  to  keep  it  in  the  sun.  He  gave 
them  milk  at  regular  intervals.  With  loving  kindness 
he  drove  away  the  dog  which  growled  and  scared  the 
little  kittens  into  spitting  and  back-raising. 

The  kittens  trusted  the  man,  loved  him  and  felt  that 
they  needed  him.    That  was  the  age  of  faith. 

One  day  a  dog  got  a  kitten  and  tore  it  to  pieces. 

The  kitten  had  disobeyed  orders  and  laws.  It  had 
crawled  away  from  the  box. 

Another  kitten,  with  one  eye  now  partly  open,  got 
thoughtful  and  said :  ^ '  There  is  no  such  thing  as  Man. 
Or,  if  there  is  sucli  a  thing,  he  is  a  monster  to  let  little 
Willie  get  torn  up.  Don 't  talk  to  me  about  Kitten  Willie 
being  a  sufferer  through  his  own  fault.  I  say  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  a  Man.  We  kittens  are  bosses  of  the 
universe  and  must  do  our  own  fighting.'* 

That  speaker  was  the  Ingersoll  kitten. 

A  kitten  of  higher  mental  class  opened  both  eyes 
just  a  little  and  actually  made  observations. 

Said  he:  **I  am  a  scientist.  I  discover  that  we  owe 
nothing  to  Man's  kindness.  We  are  governed  by  laws. 
This  box  is  on  wheels.  It  rolls  around  in  the  sunlight 
of  its  own  volition.  True,  I  do  not  know  who  shoves 
it,  but  no  Man  could  do  it.  Further,  I  discover  that 
there   is  such  a  thing  as  the   law  of   *  milk-passing. ' 

137 


Milk  comes  this  way  just  so  often.  Its  coming  is 
Nature 's  law.  It  has  always  come.  It  always  will  come. 
Good-night,  I  am  going  to  sleep.  But  don't  talk  to  me 
any  more  about  a  kind  Man.  It's  all  law,  and  I  am 
certainly  great,  for  I  saw  the  laws  first. ' ' 

That  was  the  Newton  kitten,  but  he  lacked  the  New. 
ton  faith. 

We  have  no  time  to  tell  what  the  Darwin  kitten  said. 
He  was  very  long-winded. 

But  this  happened.  The  kittens  grew  up — such  as 
did  not  perish  through  their  own  fault.  They  got  their 
eyes  fully  opened.  They  saw  the  Man,  recognized  him 
and  asked  onlj^  to  be  allowed  to  stay  in  his  house. 
*  *  Excuse  us, ' '  they  said,  * '  for  being  such  foolish  kittens. 
But  you  know  our  eyes  were  not  quite  open." 

''Don't  mention  it,"  said  the  kind  Man.  **Go  down 
cellar  and  help  yourselves  to  mice." 


That's  the  end  of  the  parable.  We  are  all  blind 
kittens,  and  our  few  attempts  at  explaining  nature's 
wonders  and  kindness  only  get  us  into  deeper  and 
deeper  mysteries. 

"We  discover  that  the  earth  goes  round  the  sun.  But 
the  greatest  scientist  must  admit  his  inability  to  tell 
or  guess  why  it  goes.  ''Give  me  the  initial  impulse," 
he  says,  "and  all  the  rest  is  easy." 

The  blind  kittens  in  their  wagon  say:  '*Give  our 
wagon  just  one  shove  and  we'll  explain  the  rest." 

The  kitten  gets  hold  of  a  law  of  "milk-passing"  and 
substitutes  that  for  man's  individual  kindness. 

The  feeble-minded  agnostic  seizes  the  law  of  gravi- 

138 


tation  and  thivJis  he  can  discard  God  with  gravity's 
help. 

But  the  great  mind  that  defined  gravity's  law  was 
a  religious  mind — too  profound  to  see  anything  final 
in  its  own  feeble  power. 

Newton  was  no  atheist.  None  better  than  he  knew 
the  mysterious  character  of  his  law.  That  it  has 
worked  from  all  eternity  **  directly  as  the  mass  and 
inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance"  he  knew  and 
told  his  fellow-creatures.  That  is  all  he  knew  and  all 
that  any  man  knows  about  it. 

To-day  Lord  Kelvin,  a  worthy  follower  in  Newton's 
steps,  is  asked  to  explain  why  gravity  acts.  He  can 
only  say: 

'*I  accept  no  theory  of  gravitation.  Present  science  has  no 
right  to  attempt  to  explain  gravitation.  We  know  nothing  about 
it.    We  simply  know  rwthing  about  it.'* 

Darwin  asks,  without  answering  his  question:  **Who 
can  explain  what  is  the  essence  of  the  attraction  of 
gravitation  ? ' ' 


To  our  doubting  friends  we  say :  Doubt  if  you  must. 
But  doubt  intelligently  and  doubt  first  of  all  your 
own  blind  kitten  wisdom.  Remember  that  ycni  at  least 
know  absolutely  nothing.  Study  and  think.  Read. 
But  don't  let  the  half -developed  wisdom  of  others  choke 
your  brain  and  leave  you  a  mere  clogged-up  machine. 

"Whatever  you  do,  never  interfere  with  the  faith  of 
others.  Spread  knowledge,  spread  facts.  Keep  to  your- 
self the  doubts  that  would  disturb  others'  happiness 
and  do  them  no  good.  Tell  what  you  know.  Keep  quiet 
about  what  you  guess. 

139 


Have  the  Animals  Souls? 

**For  that  which  hefalleth  the  sons  of  men,  hefalleth  heasts; 
even  one  thing  hefalleth  them;  as  the  one  dieth,  so  dieth  the 
other;  yea,  they  have  all  one  breath;  so  that  a  man  hath  no 
pre-emiiinice  above  a  beast:  for  all  is  vanity. 

*'Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of  man  tlmt  goeth  upward,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  beast  that  goeth  downward  to  the  earth." — Ecclea- 
tastes  Hi.,  19-21, 

The  surface  of  the  earth,  the  air  as  high  as  we  can 
study  it,  the  depths  of  the  sea,  swarm  with  animal  life. 

The  earth  rolls  around  the  sun  bathed  in  its  warm 
light.  Millions  of  creatures  die  with  every  revolution 
of  the  little  planet  which  is  their  home.  And  man 
*' going  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and  walking  up  and 
down  in  it"  rules  the  little  animals  and  the  big  ones 
and  calls  himself  sole  heir  of  immortality.  He  says: 
**For  me  this  earth  was  made  and  balanced  in  its  won- 
derful journey ;  for  me  alone  the  marvels  of  future  life 
are  reserved." 

He  digs  up  the  strange  creatures  from  the  slimy 
depths  of  the  ocean,  studies  and  labels  them. 

He  dissects  one  animal  to  study  his  own  diseases. 
He  skins  another  to  cover  his  feet  with  leather.  He 
eats  one  ox  and  hitches  its  brother  to  the  plough.  He 
uses  nature's  explosive  forces  to  bring  down  the  bird 
on  the  wing.    He  sweeps  the  rivers  with  his  nets. 

The  stomach  of  the  well-fed  man  is  the  graveyard 
of  the  animal  kingdom. 

When  his  dinner  is  finished,  the  man  well  fed  strokes 
his  stomach  contentedly  and  says  to  himself: 

140 


General  Geo.  W.  Goethals 


"What  men  ivant  to  do,  they  can  do." — Gen- 
eral Geo.  W.  Goethals  refused  to  accept  the 
verdict  of  previous  generations  that  the  Panama 
Canal  could  not  he  built.  He  ivanted  to  build 
it — and  he  did.  All  progress  is  based  on  the 
ivill  to  do  a  thing.  \_See  page  75] 


All  is  well.    For  I  have  a  soul  and  they  have  none.     They  have 
died  to  feed  me.     I  am  happy  and  they  should  be  satisfied. 


What  is  the  nature  of  the  spirit  that  directs  our 
humble  animal  brothers  and  sisters?  They  cover  the 
earth  as  long  as  we  let  them,  give  place  to  us  as  the 
human  race  increases,  and,  without  any  thought  of 
organized  resistance,  die  that  we  may  live. 

Have  tJiese  animals  souls  f 

You  have  seen  the  bird  grieving  over  the  destruction 
of  its  nest. 

You  have  studied  the  pathetic  eyes  of  the  lost  dog, 
and  the  sad  submission  of  the  tired,  beaten  horse. 

Is  there  not  soul  in  those  stricken  creatures,  and 
spiritual  feeling  deeper  than  that  displayed  by  many 
men? 

First  came  all  amm<il  life,  as  we  know  it,  and  then 
came  vum. 

Science  and  religion  agree  on  this  point,  at  least. 

All  owe  their  being  to  the  same  eternal  force.  On  this 
point  again  religion  and  science  agree. 

Is  the  life  in  animals  merely  a  passing  dream,  or  does 
it  express  in  its  humble  way  the  promise  of  life  eternal  ? 

In  Italy  a  scientific  villain  experimented  on  a  dog 
to  ascertain  the  power  of  maternal  affection. 

The  dog  was  most  cruelly  tortured.  Its  new-born 
puppy  was  beside  it.  Its  nerves  were  racked,  its  spine 
injured,  l)ut  whenever  permitted  to  do  so,  the  poor 
tortured  animal  mother  turned  its  head  toward  its 
whining  child  and  licked  it  affectionately. 

Until  it  died  there  was  nothing  that  could  overcome 
maternal  love  in  the  heart  of  that  poor  dumb  mother. 

Is  there  not  soul  in  such  love  as  that? 

141 


Discontent  the  Motive  Power 
of  Progress 

At  first  the  baby  lies  flat  on  his  back,  eyes  staring 
up  at  the  ceiling. 

By  and  by  he  gets  tired  of  lying  on  his  back.  Dis- 
content  with  his  condition  makes  him  wriggle  and 
wriggle.     At  last  he  succeeds  in  turning  over. 

If  he  were  contented  then,  there  would  be  no  men 
on  earth — only  huge  babies.  But  discontent  (again 
seizes  him,  and  through  discontent  he  learns  to  crawl. 

Crawling — traveling  on  hands  and  knees — satisfied 
lower  forms  of  animal  life.  It  used  to  satisfy  us,  in 
the  old  days  of  early  evolutionary  stages. 

But  the  human  infant — thanks  to  inborn  cravings — 
is  discontented  with  crawling.  With  much  trouble  and 
risk  and  many  feeble  totterings,  he  learns  to  walk 
erect.  He  gets  up  into  a  position  that  takes  his  eyes 
qS.  the  ground.  He  is  able  to  look  at  the  sun  and  stars 
and  takes  the  position  of  a  man.  Discontent  is  his  main- 
spring at  every  stage. 

"What  discontent  does  in  the  limited  life  of  a  child, 
it  does  on  a  much  larger  scale  in  the  life  of  a  man — 
and  on  a  scale  still  larger  in  the  life  of  a  race. 

You  can  always  tell  when  a  man  has  reached  the 
limit  of  his  possible  development.  He  ceases  to  be 
discontented — or  at  least  to  show  discontent  actively. 

Contentment,  apathy,  are  signs  of  decadence  and  of 
a  career  ended  in  either  a  man  or  a  nation. 

142 


If  a  baby  lies  still,  no  longer  wiggling  or  trying  to 
swallow  his  toe,  you  may  be  sure  that  he  is  seriously 
ill.  The  nation  that  no  longer  wiggles  is  in  a  condition 
as  serious  as  that  of  the  motionless  infant. 


The  man  or  newspaper  which  imparts  dissatisfaction 
— wise  discontent  to  a  nation  or  to  individuals,  gives 
them  the  motive  power  that  brings  improvement. 

Euskin  as  a  young  man  declared  that  his  one  hope 
in  life  was  to  arouse  ''some  dissatisfaction." 

The  constant  aim  of  men  in  talking  to  each  other, 
in  writing  for  newspapers,  even  in  writing  novels, 
should  be  to  arouse  discontent. 

In  these  columns,  as  our  readers  will  have  noticed,  the 
constant  aim  is  to  make  the  great  crowd  dissatisfied. 

Only  through  discontent  can  changes  come — and  are 
there  not  causes  enough  for  discontent  and  need  enough 
for  changes? 

A  majority  of  the  people  half  educated,  and  tens  of 
thousands  half  fed. 

Children  run  over  daily  because  they  have  no  play- 
ground but  the  gutter. 

Men  of  noble  aspirations  kept  down  by  hard  work 
and  poverty. 

Children  left  locked  up  alone  all  day  while  their 
mothers  work  for  a  pittance. 

Men,  uncertain  of  their  future  and  of  their  children's 
future,  engage  in  a  constant  struggle  for  wealth  that 
is  not  needed — a  struggle  that  develops  in  the  end  a 
passion  as  useless  as  it  is  degrading. 

Unless  you  believe  that  the  world  is  perfect  because 

143 


yau  happen  to  have  enough  to  eat  and  to  wear,  you 
should  be  discontented. 

You  should  remember  that  the  world  ^s  achievements 
and  great  changes  have  all  come  from  discontent,  and  . 
you  should  be,  in  as  many  ways  as  possible,  a  breeder  of 
discontent  among  the  human  beings  around  you. 


CLEAN  FACE— CLEAN  SIDEWALK 

The  Supreme  Court,  we  are  told,  decided  that  a  man 
is  not  compelled  to  clean  his  sidewalk. 

The  Supreme  Court  couldn't  compel  you  to  wash 
your  face,  still  you  wash  it  out  of  respect  for  your 
neighbors  and  yourself. 

The  same  thing  ought  to  apply  to  your  sidewalk. 


144 


Wilbur  Wright 


"Does  anyone  doubt  that  imagination,  intan- 
gible, visionary,  ivit/iout  real  existence,  is  the 
necessary  forerunner,  the  creator  of  everything 
that  voe  have  v:orth  vohile?" — fVilbur  Wright 
had  that  imagination  and  today  the  result  of  his 
imagination — the  aeroplane — is  the  most  note- 
vjorthy  thing  this  generation  has  produced. 

iSee  page  /j/] 


The  "Criminal"  Class 

Did  this  view  of  it  ever  occw  to  you? 

Much  interest  just  now  in  criminals. 

Much  horror  aroused  by  depravity. 

Many  plans  more  or  less  appropriate  for  making  the 
air  pure. 

Many  good  men,  politicians,  women  and  bishops, 
who  spent  the  summer  at  the  seaside  willing  now  to 
spend  a  few  days  wiping  ^^ crime"  off  the  earth. 


What  is  crime?  Who  are  the  criminals f  Who  makes 
the  criminals? 

Do  criminals  viciously  and  voluntarily  arise  among 
Tis,  eager  to  lead  hunted  lives,  eager  to  be  jailed  at 
intervals,  eager  to  crawl  in  the  dark,  dodge  policemen, 
work  in  stripes  and  die  in  shame?     Hardly. 

Will  you  kindly  and  patiently  follow  the  lives,  quickly 
sketched,  of  a  boy  and  girl? 

THE   GIRL 

Born  poor,  bom  in  hard  luck,  her  father,  or  mother, 
or  both,  victims  of  long  hours,  poor  fare,  bad  air  and 
little  leisure. 

As  a  baby  she  struggles  against  fate  and  manages 
to  live  while  three  or  four  little  brothers  and  sisters 
die  and  go  back  to  kind  earth. 

She  crawls  around  the  halls  of  a  tenement,  a  good 
deal  in  the  way.    She  is  hunted  here  and  chased  there. 

145 


She  is  cold  in  Winter,  ill-fed  in  Summer,  never  well 
cared  for. 

She  gets  a  little  so-called  education.  Ill-dressed  and 
ashamed  beside  the  otlier  children,  she  is  glad  to  escape 
the  education.  No  one  at  home  can  help  her  on.  No 
one  away  from  home  cares  about  her. 

She  grows  up  white,  sickly,  like  a  potato  sprouting 
in  a  cellar.  At  the  corner  of  a  fine  street  she  sees  the 
carriages  passing  with  other  girls  in  warm  furs,  or  in 
fine,  cool  Summer  dresses. 

With  a  poor  shawl  around  her  and  with  heels  run 
down  she  peers  in  at  the  restaurant  window,  to  see  other 
women  leading  lives  very  different  from  hers. 

Steadily  she  has  impressed  upon  her  the  fact,  abso- 
lutely undeniable,  that  as  the  world  is  organized  there 
is  no  especial  place  for  her — certainly  no  comfort  for 
her. 

She  finds  work,  perhaps.  Hours  as  long  as  the  day- 
light. 

Ten  minutes  late — ^half  a  day's  fine. 

At  the  end  of  the  day  aching  feet,  aching  back, 
system  ill-fed,  not  enough  earned  to  live  upon  honestly 
— and  that  prospect  stretches  ahead  farther  than  her 
poor  eyes  can  see. 

'* What's  the  charge,  officer?'' 

"Disorderly  conduct.  Your  Honor.'* 

There's  the  criminal,  good  men,  politicians,  women 
and  bishops,  that  you  are  hunting  so  ardently. 

THE  BOY 

Same  story,  practically. 

He  plays  on  the  tenement  staircase — cuffed  off  the 
staircase. 

146 


He  plays  ball  in  the  street — cuffed,  if  caught  by  the 
policeman. 

He  swings  on  the  area  railing,  trying  to  exercise  his 
stunted  muscles — cuffed  again. 

In  burning  July,  with  shirt  and  trousers  on,  he  goes 
swimming  in  the  park  fountain — caught  and  cuffed  and 
handed  over  to  *  *  the  society. ' ' 

A  few  months  in  a  sort  of  semi-decent  imprisonment, 
treated  in  a  fashion  about  equivalent  to  that  endured 
by  the  sea  turtle  turned  over  on  its  back  in  the  market. 

He  escapes  to  begin  the  same  life  once  more. 

He  tries  for  work. 

*'What  do  you  know?" 

*'I  don't  know  anything;  nobody  ever  taught  me.'' 

He  cannot  even  endure  the  discipline  of  ten  hours' 
daily  shovelling— it  takes  education  to  instil  discipline, 
^  if  only  the  education  of  the  early  pick  and  shovel. 

He  has  not  been  taught  anything.  He  has  been  turned 
loose  in  a  city  full  of  temptation.  He  had  no  real 
start  to  begin  with,  and  no  effort  was  ever  made  to 
repair  his  evil  beginning. 


''What's  the  charge,  officer f' 

** Attempted  burglary;  pleads  guilty." 

**  Three  years  in  prison,  since  it  is  his  first  offenci." 

In  prison  he  gets  an  education.  They  teach  him  how 
to  be  a  good  burglar  and  not  get  caught.  Patiently 
the  State  boards  him,  and  educates  him  to  be  a  iirst- 
rate  criminal. 

There's  your  first-rate  criminal,  Messrs.  bishops, 
good  men,  politicians  and  benevolent  women. 

147 


Dear  bishops,  noble  women,  good  men  and  scheming 
politicians,  listen  to  this  story : 

In  the  South  Sea  IslaiKls  they  have  for  contagious 
diseases  a  horror  as  great  as  your  horror  of  crime. 

A  man  or  woman  stricken  with  a  loathsome  disease, 
such  as  smallpox,  is  seized,  isolated,  and  the  individual 
sores  of  the  smallpox  patient  are  earnestly  scraped  with 
sea  shells — until  the  patient  dies.  It  hurts  the  patient 
a  good  deal — without  ever  curing,  of  course — ^but  it 
relieves  the  feelings  of  the  outraged  good  ones  who 
wield  the  sea  shells. 

You  kind-hearted  creatures,  hunting  ** crime''  in  great 
cities,  are  like  the  South  Sea  Islanders  in  their  treat- 
ment of  smallpox. 

You  ardently  wield  your  reforming  sea  shells  and 
you  scrape  very  earnestly  at  the  sores  so  well  developed. 


No  desire  here  to  decry  your  earnest  efforts. 

But  if  3^ou  ever  get  tired  of  scraping  with  sea  shells, 
try  vaccination,  or,  better  still,  try  to  take  such  care 
of  youth,  to  give  such  chances  and  education  to  the 
young,  as  will  save  them  from  the  least  profitable  of 
all  careers — crime. 


Rich  good  men,  nice  bishops,  comfortable,  benevolent 
ladies — every  man  and  woman  on  Blackwell's  Island, 
every  wretched  creature  living  near  a  * '  red  Light, ' '  would 
gladly  change  places  with  any  of  you. 

Scrape  away  with  your  sea  shells,  but  try  also  to 
give  a  few  more  and  a  few  better  chances  in  youth  to 

148 


those  whom  you  now  hunt  as  criminals  in  their  mature 
years. 

God  creates  boys  and  girls,  anxious  to  live  decently. 

Yawr  social  system  makes  criminals  and  fills  jails. 


Shakespeare,  describing  the  circulation  of  the  blood 
before  Harvey  had  announced  it,  Dante  describing  the 
Southern  Cross  before  any  printed  book  spoke  of  it, 
and  showing  his  real  understanding  of  the  law  of 
gravitation  before  Newton's  formula,  are  examples  of 
what  the  brain  of  genius  can  do. 

Your  brain  in  fever  jumps,  leaps,  and  flies,  all  for 
nothing.  The  brain  of  genius  at  a  normal  temperature 
has  all  the  freedom,  power,  and  lightness  of  the  fevered 
brain — plus  control  and  direction. 


149 


Who  is  Independent?    Nobody 

TVe  all  have  our  moments  of  imagining  ourselves 
independeiii  characters.  We  take  pride  in  our  inde- 
pendence and  are  never  as  foolish  as  when  trying  to 
prove  how  independent  we  are. 

Every  man,  to  begin  with,  is  bom  absolutely  at  the 
mercy  of  his  ancestry.  You  have  not  a  thing  in  you, 
and  you  never  will  have  a  thing  in  you,  that  you  did 
not  inherit  from  some  one  of  the  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  ancestors,  all  of  whom  are  dknly  stored  away 
in  your  complex  make-up. 

You  may  develop  marvelously  the  faculties  which 
they  gave  you. 

But  you  are  dependent  on  those  who  brought  you  into 
the  world,  and  upon  those  back  of  them. 

The  Kaffir,  sober,  industrious,  honest,  with  all  the 
virtues  rolled  up  within  him,  has  not  a  fragment  of  one 
chance  in  ten  thousand  billions  of  equalling  the  achieve- 
ments of  a  tenth-rate  white  man  whose  ancestral  start 
was  better. 


After  birth  you  start  with  dependence  on  your 
ancestors,  and  after  youth  you  are  dependent  on  your 
education. 

Facts  are  your  tools,  and  you  can*t  work  without 
them. 

If  your  mind  has  the  right  formation,  if  your  brain 
is  provided  with  the  deep  convolutions,  and  good  luck 
has  supplied  you  with  a  good  education  in  youth,  the 

150 


whole  thing  is  dependent  on  your  health — on  your  liver, 
your  stomach,  or  some  other  part  of  your  internal 
machinery. 

Very  often  your  success  is  dependent  on  your  temper 
and  tact.  These  depend  on  your  digestion.  Diges- 
tion, of  course,  depends  on  your  cook,  and  the  cook's 
attention  to  business  may  depend  on  the  politeness  of 
the  policeman  in  front  of  the  house^ 

You  may  feel  absolutely  independent  and  tKvnh  you 
are  independent,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact  you  are 
miserably  dependent  on  the  mood  of  the  policeman  who 
has  snubbed  the  lady  who  cooks  your  food. 


151 


How  Marriage  Began 

Haphazard  reflections  on  grave  topics. 

At  stated  times  we  mortals  have  stated  visitations. 

One  day  it  is  the  grippe,  next  day  the  financial 
problem. 

Just  now  it  is  the  marriage  and  divorce  question, 
with  much  learned  expounding  by  the  good  and  the 
pure,  such  as  bishops  and  members  of  Sorosis. 


What  is  marriage  ?  How  did  it  begin  ?  Whence  does 
it  come? 

Why  is  it  a  feature  of  human  life  wherever  that  life 
is  found. 

You  must  begin  with  such  questions.  Always  study 
beginnings.  Nothing  can  be  learned  by  taking  hold  of 
a  thing  in  the  middle  and  examining  its  imperfections. 

The  first  priest  to  join  man  and  woman  together  was 
no  benign  being  with  lawn  sleeves  and  soul-stirring 
words. 

Marriage  was  brought  about  on  this  earth  by  the  will 
and  wisdom  of  God  Almighty  working  through  primitive 
babyhood. 

In  the  old  days,  when  the  world  was  cruder,  men 
and  women  ran  wild  through  forests  and  swamps. 
They  fought  nature,  fought  each  other,  as  savage  as 
other  beasts  around  them.  There  was  no  love;  there 
was  no  marriage.  The  instincts  of  self-preservation  and 
of  reproduction  worked  alone  to  keep  the  race  here 
through  its  hard  childhood. 

152 


But  in  cold  stone  caves  or  in  rough  nests  under  fallen 
tree  trunks  savage  children  were  born  and  nursed  by 
their  savage  mothers  with  savage  affection. 

Through  those  infants  of  the  stone  age,  or  of  ages 
much  earlier,  marriage  and  pure  affection  came  into 
the  world. 

It  is  not  hard  to  reproduce  in  our  minds  the  picture 
of  the  first  marriage. 

A  savage  woman,  half  human,  half  ape,  with  rough, 
matted  locks  hanging  round  her  face,  sits  holding  her 
new-born  baby,  protecting  it  from  wind  and  cold. 

It  is  a  queer  baby,  covered  perhaps  with  reddish  hair, 
its  brow  no  higher  than  a  rat's.  Its  jaw  protrudes;  its 
tiny,  grimy  hands  clutch  with  monkey  power  all  things 
within  reach. 

Along  comes  the  father,  full  of  plans  to  kill  a  mam- 
moth or  a  cave  bear;  interested  in  his  stone-tipped 
club,  but  caring  nothing  for  the  mother,  who  has  been 
for  some  time  only  a  whining  nuisance. 

He  stops  for  a  second  to  look  at  the  small  creature 
which  he  has  added  to  earth's  animal  life. 

Its  misshapen  skull,  ferret  eyes,  miniature  shoulder^ 
— something  about  it  reminds  him  of  his  royal  self,  as 
studied  in  the  pool.  He  stoops  to  look  closer.  His 
bristly  hairs  are  grabbed,  and  a  weird,  insane,  tooth- 
less grin  lights  up  the  little  monkey  face. 

Then  the  savage  takes  a  new  view  of  life;  there  the 
marriage  institution  and  the  marriage  problem  are  bom 
simultaneously. 

Says  the  mammoth  hunter,  with  whistling  words  and 
hoarse  throat  sounds  half  articulated : 

**I  like  this  baby.  He's  like  me.  Let  me  hold  him. 
Don't  you  go  out  with  him  looking  for  food,  and  don't 

153 


leave  him  alone  while  I'm  gone.  I've  got  a  bear  located. 
No  one  can  beat  me  killing  bears.  I'll  bring  the  bear's 
heart  to  you  this  evening.  You  can  give  this  baby  some 
of  the  blood.  It  will  do  him  good.  Don't  have  any- 
thing to  say  to  that  mammoth  hunter  in  the  next  swamp. 
I  want  you  to  stick  to  me.  I'll  look  after  you.  I  have 
taken  a  fancy  to  that  hahy.  He  looks  very  much  like 
me." 

Off  goes  the  father,  and  that  savage  mother,  in  a 
primitive  way,  is  a  wife.  Hereafter  she  is  to  be  cared 
for.  Bears  will  be  killed  for  her,  even  while  she  has 
children  to  keep  her  busy  and  unattractive.  Society 
takes  a  new  turn  and  the  red-haired  baby  has  done  it. 

To  childhood,  helpless  and  beautiful,  we  owe  marriage 
and  all  that  growth  of  morality  which  is  gradually 
making  us  really  civilized. 

The  basis  of  all  real  growth  is  altruism ;  and  altruism, 
the  inclination  to  think  more  of  others  than  of  your- 
self, came  into  the  world  through  the  cradle. 

We  owe  such  ci\alization  as  we  have  acquired  to 
children. 

"A  softened  pressure  of  an  uncouth  hand,  a  human  gleam  in 
an  almost  animal  eye,  an  endearment  in  an  inarticulate  voice — 
feeble  things  enough.  Yet  in  these  faint  awakenings  lay  the 
hope  of  the  human  race." 


The  influemce  of  childhood  has  transformed  mere 
animal  attraction  into  unselfish  affection.  It  has  sub- 
stituted family  life  for  savage  life.  The  interests  of 
childhood  demand  that  marriage  and  its  responsibilities 
be  held  sacred. 

Duty  to  future  generations  demands  that  divorce  be 
made  difficult  and  considered  a  misfortune. 

154 


Marriage,  brought  into  the  world  through  the  in- 
fluence of  children,  should  be  dissolved  only  with  due 
regard  for  the  interests  of  children. 


An  unhappy  marriage  is  earth's  worst  affliction. 
Quite  true.     But  it  is  not  affliction  wasted. 

Examples  are  needed  to  warn  the  young  against  the 
matrimonial  recklessness  which  underlies  most  unhappy 
marriages. 

Unhappy  wives  and  husbands  are  human  lighthouses 
• — ^lonely,  but  useful. 

If  a  gentle  little  Aldemey  calf  should  marry  a  sleek 
young  zebra  and  afterward  get  kicked  to  death  for  her 
pains,  we  should  all  sympathize  with  her.  But  we 
(Should  expect  other  mild-eyed  Aldemeys  after  that  to 
beware  of  zebras. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  present  divorce  talk,  which 
sets  the  good  to  fluttering,  really  interests  a  very  un- 
important class. 

The  man  who  spends  his  life  spending  what  he  didn't 
earn,  feeding  his  physical  senses,  who  goes  from  rum 
to  the  races,  from  races  to  the  opera,  and  from  the 
opera  to  roulette,  wears  out  his  nervous  sensations. 

He  then  thinks  that  he  is  unhappily  married.  He 
has  possibly  driven  his  wife  to  being  seven  kinds  of  a 
fool. 

But  that  is  not  her  fault. 

A  man  who  marries  a  woman  undertakes  to  make 
her  happy  and  keep  her  busy.  If  he  keeps  his  contract, 
she  will  keep  hers. 

If  he  fails,  he  has  no  right  to  experiment  on  another 

155 


unfortunate.    The  divorce  class  is  a  self-indulgent,  mal- 
formed class,  not  worth  notice. 


Professor  Cope,  an  earnest  man  and  serious  thinker, 
believed  that  marriages  should  be  contracted  on  proba- 
tion— say  for  five  years,  with  the  right  on  both  sides 
to  refuse  a  renewal. 

Theoretically,  this  would  be  beautiful.  It  would  make 
courtship  permanent,  abolish  curl-papered  wives  in  the 
morning,  and  tipsy,  bragging  husbands  at  night. 

But  it  wouldn't  work.  It  would  be  all  right  for 
women.  They  are  only  too  willing  to  be  faithful  and 
permanent. 

But  men  cannot  be  trusted.  The  animal  in  them,  so 
essential  long  ago,  when  the  race  was  struggling  for 
a  foothold,  has  not  been  obliterated.  They  have  got 
to  be  made  responsible  and  held  responsible. 


As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  really  is  no  marriage  or 
divorce  problem  which  sensible  beings  need  consider. 

At  present  men  are  not  good  enough  to  be  trusted 
with  liberal  marriage  or  divorce  laws.  When  they  are 
good  enough  the  laws  will  not  be  wanted.  For  the  man 
fuUy  developed  and  fully  moral  will  know  what  he  is 
doing  when  he  goes  into  a  marriage  contract.  His 
stability  of  character  will  insure  permanency.  There 
will  be  no  need  of  laws. 

At  one  time  the  English  laws  regulated  the  con- 
ditions under  which  a  man  might  beat  his  wife.  **The 
stick,"  said  the  law,  "must  not  be  thicker  than  the 
husband's  thumb.*' 

156 


Some  Englishmen  have  very  thick  thumbs,  and  the 
law  was  doubtless  hard  on  some  thin,  worn-out  women. 

But  that  law  is  no  longer  needed. 

Men  have  outgrown  the  need  of  regulation  in  wife- 
beating.  In  time  they  will  outgrow  the  need  of  laws 
regarding  infidelity  and  lack  of  self-respect. 


GENIUS  A  FEVER 


What  do  you  think  of  this  definition  of  genius  ?  It  is 
fever,  without  disease.  "With  every  man,  in  fever  the 
brain  works  marvelously,  constantly,  without  apparent 
effort — but  not  usefully. 

The  brain  of  genius  receives,  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions, the  stimulus  that  the  ordinary  man  gets  from 
fever.  Genius  has  fever  without  heat,  or  illness — as 
the  firefly  produces  light  without  heat,  thus  mystifying 
science. 


157 


Man^s  Willingness  to  Work 

"What  a  fortunate  thing  it  is  that  men  want  to  work 
and  like  to  live !  Suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  out- 
of-work,  hungi'v,  unlucky  creatures^  numbering  one 
hundred  thousand  in  New  York  City,  should  suddenly 
change  their  character. 

It  is  a  harmless  supposition,  as  it  implies  that  a  great 
body  of  good,  though  unlucky,  men  should  be  suddenly 
metamorphosed.  But  suppose,  for  instance,  that  one 
hundred  thousand  men  should  have  a  meeting  and  say : 

**The  State  provides  food,  lodging  and  good  care  for 
every  thief.  It  does  not  provide  anything  for  us.  Let 
us  therefore  accept  the  situation  like  philosophers  and 
become  thieves.'' 

Suppose  the  hundred  thousand  men  thereupon,  very 
quietly,  without  any  show  of  violence,  should  eacfe  pro- 
ceed to  steal  something  and  then  announce  the  intention 
to  accept  the  consequence  by  pleading  guilty.  It  would 
embarrass  the  State  and  the  reigning  powers,  would  it 
not? 

What  could  society  do  with  a  hundred  thousand  self- 
confessed  thieves  to  take  care  of?  It  could  not  lock 
them  up.  It  could  not  let  them  go.  It  could  not 
nominally  sentence  them  and  have  the  Governor  pardon 
them,  because  the  hundred  thousand  would  then  pro- 
ceed to  steal  something  else. 

What  could  be  done?  Nothing.  There  is  no  punish- 
ment save  imprisonment  for  theft,  and  the  wholesale 
thieves  would  ask  for  and  demand  imprisonment  with 
the  usual  rations. 

158 


We  think  society  is  well  balanced  and  that  every- 
thing is  ingeniously  provided  for. 

So  it  is;  but  everything  hinges  on  the  extraordinary 
fact  that  the  hungry,  thin,  common,  shiftless,  luckless 
man  at  the  very  bottom  is  still  a  nian.  He  will  not  be 
a  thief,  and  he  will  die  of  hunger  and  cold,  as  poor 
fellows  do  almost  every  winter  day,  rather  than  take 
the  food  that  society  guarantees  to  the  thief. 

We  attribute  much  to  our  own  wisdom  and  the  wisdom 
of  our  laws.  But  we  owe  almost  everything  to  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation  and  to  that  second,  very 
peculiar,  instinct  called  pride. 


PLAGUE— POVERTY— SAME  THING 

In  Asiatic  countries  when  you  try  to  cure  a  plague 
of  the  body,  ignorant  people  at  the  bottom  resent  it, 
attack  you  and  say  you  lack  respect  for  law. 

In  civilized  countries  like  our  own,  when  you  try 
to  cure  the  plague  of  poverty,  ignorance  at  the  top 
attacks  you,  says  that  you  are  interfering  with  what 
always  has  been,  always  will  be,  and  should  be,  and 
that  you  show  lack  of  respect  for  the  law. 


159 


The  Three  Best  Things 
in  the  World 

If  you  had  choice  of  all  qualities  which  man  can 
possess,  which  three  would  you  declare  most  important? 

This  question  is  submitted  as  interesting  every  man. 
"We  give  our  answer;  if  yours  is  different,  let  us  hear. 


Self-control. 

JiirStice. 

Imagination. 

Those  we  think  the  most  important  elements  in  the 
human  character.  A  man  fully  and  evenly  equipped 
with  all  three  would  be  greater  than  any  the  world  has 
known. 


Self-control  you  must  start  with. 

It  makes  life  worth  while.  It  frees  you  from  the 
danger  of  remorse,  the  wasted  time  of  self-reproach.  It 
sees  opportunities  as  they  come ;  saves  you  from  damag- 
ing temptation.  It  is  as  important  to  a  brain  as  is 
physical  equilibrium  to  a  work  of  masonry. 

A  man  without  self-control,  a  building  out  of  plumb, 
cannot  endure. 

Justice. 

It  is  the  foundation  of  all  reputation  worth  the  hav- 
ing. It  is  to  man  as  necessary  as  the  compass  to  a 
ship.  It  is  the  compass.  Justice  will  give  reputation 
for  greatness  though  you  create  nothing  great.    It  will 

160 


Dr,  Alexis  Carrel 


"Knoixiledge  in  time  ivill  free  us  from  the 
blinders  that  ive  ivear — producing  a  human 
race  as  far  ahead  of  us  as  ^we  are  ahead  of 
the  horse." 

Dr.  Carrel  is  a  living  example  of  this  truth. 
Knoivledge  has  enabled  him  to  conquer  disease 
and  to  set  the  pace  in  producing  a  better  human 
race.  iSee  page  5j] 


vmi  affectionate  reverence  in  life  and  a  gratifying  grave- 
stone at  life's  end. 


Iniagmation. 

Greatest  gift  to  man.  It  finds  him  grovelling  here  a 
pithecoid  littleness. 

The  rough  hair  is  gone  from  his  body.  His  thumb 
has  lost  its  monkey  smallness;  he  walks  flat  on  his 
feet. 

But  beyond  that  he  has  naught  else  to  thank  material 
nature  for. 

All  the  rest  comes  to  him  from  imagination. 
Marvelous  work  she  performs.  She  takes  naked  man 
with  his  low  forehead,  with  his  gruntings  and  whistlings 
through  his  teeth,  and  makes  of  him  what  man  was 
meant  to  be. 

Very  slowly  she  works,  but  ceaselessly.  Her  task 
is  not  nearly  ended.  At  her  first  glimmerings  man's 
real  life  begins.  He  learns  from  her  to  add  wood  to 
a  fire.  No  monkey  ever  did  it.  That  stamps  him  a 
man. 

Soon,  with  her  help,  he  leaves  the  earth  and  travels 
off  ten  thousand  million  miles  into  space.  He  counts 
the  suns  in  the  Milky  Way;  travels  in  the  air,  under 
the  water;  harnesses  lightning,  controls  nature.  By 
i/inagination  he  is  made  captcdn  of  this  earthen  ship 
on  which  he  travels  through  space. 

Imagination  separates  Archimedes,  working  at  his 
problems  in  the  sunlight,  from  the  vile  soldier  that 
slaughtered  him. 

Shakespeare  rattling  his  ale  pot  and  Johanna,  the 
ape,  shaking  her  bars  at  the  Zoo  are  alike,  save  for 
difference  of  imagination. 

161 


Self-control  to  balance  you. 
Justice  to  guide  you. 
Imuginatio^i  to  lend  creative  power. 
** Equilibrium,  Direction,  Creation/' 
The  Trinity  ardently  to  be  desired. 


Long  ago  Plato  announced  that  apparent  differences 
are  deceptive;  that  all  things  existing  come  from  one 
casting — the  mind  of  God — which  he  names  ^^idea/* 

Similarly  today  the  solemn-thinking  German  tells  you 
that  matter  and  force  are  identical,  that  the  inter- 
changeable character  of  forces — ^heat,  light,  magnetism, 
etc. — is  part  of  the  a,  b,  c  of  proved  phenomena. 

Haeckel  stops  digging  up  old  bones  and  classifying 
sea  miscroscopic  organisms  long  enough  to  write 
** Monism,"  expressing  his  belief  that  God  is  anything 
and  everything  from  Orion  to  a  tumblebug. 

It  is  quite  easy  to  show  that  the  selected  three — 
self-control,  justice  and  imagmation — are  in  reality  one. 
Each  exists  as  part  of  the  others.  Each  is  made  up  of 
the  other  two. 

But  these  talks  are  not  devoted  to  any  save  simple 
things. 

The  question  is  this,  once  more: 

What  are  man's  three  most  useful  qualities — ^which 
three  would  you  possess? 

Do  not  call  this  question  idle  or  believe  that  we 
cannot  change  ourselves.    We  can. 

Napoleon  said:  *' Never  believe  that  a  man  ever 
changed  his  temperament." 

But  Napoleon  often  said  what  was  foolish. 

162 


It  ought  to  delight  you  to  know  that  you  can  change 
yourself  if  you  want  to,  as  you  can  change  the  arrange- 
ment of  your  back  parlor. 

Try  it.    It  is  hard  work,  but  good  exercise. 


*      SALESMANSHIP  AND  OWNEESHIP 

Salesmanship  is  education.  As  you  sell  goods,  you 
study  character,  you  fit  yourself  to  be  the  head  of  a 
business. 

The  employe  who  carelessly  neglects  his  work  thinks 
that  he  is  cheating  his  employer.  He  is  cheating 
himself. 

Young  salesmen  and  saleswomen,  work  now  as  though 
you  owned  the  store.    This  is  the  only  road  to  ownership. 


WHISKEY  DIED—?   ? 

"Whiskey  died  officially  September  8,  1917,  at 
11  o'clock. 

Whiskey  has  as  many  lives  as  a  cat,  and  there  are 
as  many  kinds  of  whiskey  as  kinds  of  cat — all  unfit  for 
human  food. 


163 


The  Value  of  Solitude 

"We  inflict  a  piece  of  advice  upon  our  readers.  It  is 
intended  especially  for  the  young,  who  have  still  to 
get  their  growth,  whose  characters  and  possibilities  are 
forming. 

Get  away  from  the  crowd  when  you  can.  Keep  your- 
self to  yourself,  if  only  for  a  few  Jumrs  daily. 


Full  individual  growth,  special  development,  rounded 
mental  operations — all  these  demand  room,  separation 
from  others,  solitude,  self-examination  and  the  self- 
reliance  which  solitude  gives. 

The  finest  tree  stands  off  by  itself  in  the  open  plain. 
Its  branches  spread  wide.  It  is  a  complete  tree,  better 
than  the  cramped  tree  in  the  crowded  forest. 

The  animal  to  be  admired  is  not  that  which  runs  in 
herds,  the  gentle  browsing  deer  or  foolish  sheep  think- 
ing only  as  a  fraction  of  the  flock,  incapable  of  personal 
independent  direction.  It's  the  lonely  prowling  lion 
or  the  big  black  leopard  with  the  whole  world  for  his 
private  field  that  is  worth  looking  at. 

The  man  who  grows  up  in  a  herd,  deer-like,  thinking 
ivith  the  herd,  acting  with  the  herd,  rarely  amounts  to 
anything. 


Do  you  want  to  succeed?  Grow  in  solitude,  work, 
develop  in  solitude,  with  books  and  thoughts  and  Nature 
fow*  friends.     Then,  if  you  want  the  crowd  to  see  how 

164 


fine  you  are,  come  back  to  it  and  boss  it  if  it  will  let 
you. 

Constant  craving  for  indiscriminate  company  is  a 
sure  sign  of  mental  weakness. 

Scbopenhauer — a  sour  genius,  hut  a  genius — speaks 
contemptuously  of  the  negroes  herded  in  small  rooms 
unable  to  get  *' enough  of  one  another's  snub-nose  com- 
pany. ' ' 


If  you  enter  a  village  or  small  town  and  want  to 
find  the  man  or  youth  of  ability,  do  you  look  for  him 
leaning  over  the  village  pool  table,  sitting  on  the  grocery 
store  boxes,  lounging  in  the  smelly  tavern  with  other 
vacant  minds? 

Certainly  not.  You  find  him  at  work,  and  you  find 
him  by  himself. 

Think  how  public  institutions  dwarf  the  brains  and 
souls  of  unhappy  children  condemned  to  live  in  them. 
No  chance  there  for  individual,  separate  development. 
Millions  of  children  have  grown  up  in  such  places, 
millions  of  sad  nonentities. 


Here  is  what  Goethe  says: 

*'Es  bildet  ein  Talent  sich  in  der  Stille,  doch  ein 
Charakter  in  dem  Strome  der  Welt."  (Talent  is 
developed  in  solitude,  character  in  the  rush  of  the 
world.) 

You  wonder  why  so  much  ability  comes  from  the 
country — -why  a  Lincoln  comes  from  the  backwoods 
while  you,  flourishing  in  a  great  city,  can  barely  keep 
your  place  as  a  typewriter. 

165 


The  countryman  has  got  to  be  by  himself  much  of 
the  time  \s'hether  he  wishes  to  or  not.  If  he  has  any- 
thing in  him  it  comes  out. 

Astronomy,  man's  grandest  study,  grew  up  among 
the  shepherds.  You  of  the  cities  never  even  see  the 
stars,  much  less  study  them. 


Don't  be  a  sheep  or  a  deer.  Don't  devote  your  hours 
to  the  company  and  conversation  of  those  who  know  as 
little  as  you  do.  Don't  think  hard  only  when  you  are 
trying  to  remember  a  popular  song  or  to  decide  on  the 
color  of  your  Winter  overcoat  or  necktie. 

Remember  that  you  are  an  individual,  not  a  grain  of 
dust  or  a  blade  of  grass.  Don't  be  a  sheep;  be  a  man. 
It  has  taken  nature  a  hundred  million  years  to  produce 
you.    Don't  make  her  sorry  she  took  the  time. 

Get  out  in  the  park  and  walk  and  think.  Get  up  in 
your  hall  bedroom,  read,  study,  write  what  you  think. 
Talk  more  to  yourself  and  less  to  others.  Avoid  maga- 
zines, avoid  excessive  newspaper  reading. 

There  is  not  a  man  of  average  ability  but  could  make 
a  striking  career  if  he  could  but  will  to  do  the  best 
that  is  in  him. 


Proofs  of  growth  due  to  soUtude  are  endless.  Milton's 
greatest  work  was  done  when  blindness,  old  age  and  the 
death  of  the  Puritan  government  forced  him  into  com- 
pletest  seclusion.  Beethoven  did  his  best  work  in  the 
solitudes  of  deafness. 

Bacon  would  never  have  been  the  great  leader  of 
scientific  thought  had  not  his  trial  and  disgrace  forced 

166 


him  from  the  company  of  a  grand  retinue  and  stupid 
court  to  the  solitude  of  his  own  brain. 

**Multum  insola  fuit  anima  mea."  (My  spirit  hath 
been  much  alone.)  This  he  said  often,  and  lucky  it 
was  for  him.     Loneliness  of  spirit  made  him. 

Gret  a  little  of  it  for  yourself. 

Drop  your  club,  your  street  comer,  your  gossipy 
boarding-house  table.  Drop  your  sheep  life  and  try 
being  a  man. 

It  may  improve  you. 


SAVE  MONEY 


Save  money,  put  it  at  compound  interest  for  your 
children's  sake.  A  statement  has  been  prepared  show- 
ing what  $1  might  have  meant  to  Methuselah  had  the 
dollar  been  invested  at  6  per  cent,  compound,  when 
Methuselah  was  twenty-one.  When  Methuselah  died, 
aged  969,  the  single  dollar  would  have  grown  to  more 
than  977  sextillions  of  dollars,  a  sum  shown  in  twenty- 
four  figures. 


167 


The  Value  of  Poverty 
to  the  World 

Aslc  your  friend  what  he  would  do  if  he  had  a  million? 

A  MAJORITY  of  men  long  for  a  great  deal  of  money. 

Each  man  will  tell  you  that  he  is  struggling  along 
in  uncongenial  employment ;  that  if  he  had  his  way  his 
life  would  be  arranged  very  differently. 

Put  to  any  friend  this  question: 

"What  would  you  do  if  you  had  a  million  dollars f 

You  will  learn  that,  first  of  all,  he  would  get  rid 
of  the  useful  daily  plodding  that  occupies  him.  Instead 
of  li\'ing  to  work  he  would  live  to  enjoy  himself. 

A  majority  of  men  are  usefully  employed  because 
they  must  work  to  live. 

If  we  all  had  our  way  we  should  do  as  we  choose,  and 
there  would  be  no  progress.  Fortunately,  the  wisdom 
of  Providence  keeps  the  great  majority  of  men  poor 
and  usefully  busy. 


This  writer  asked  an  able  business  man,  who  manages 
the  material  success  of  a  great  newspaper,  what  he 
would  do  if  he  had  a  million  dollars.  He  replied  with- 
out hesitation :  *  *  I  would  go  abroad  and  spend  the  rest 
of  my  life  collectiag  artistic  things  and  enjoying  them.'' 

By  his  newspaper  work,  which  helps  to  disseminate 
truth  and  to  fight  privilege,  this  man  renders  the  great- 
est possible  service  to  the  world.  He  is  head  of  the 
commissariat  department  of  an  army  of  righteousness. 

168 


How  fortunate  that  he  cannot  abandon  his  useful  work 
to  collect  artistic  trash  that  would  only  make  him  use- 
less and  enrich  a  few  unscrupulous  dealers. 


Joseph  Jefferson  as  an  actor  has  done  great  good  for 
the  world.  He  filled  hundreds  of  thousands  of  young 
and  old  hearts  with  kindly  sympathy.  He  set  a  good 
example  to  all  the  actors  of  the  world.  He  was  truly  a 
public  benefactor. 

If  Joseph  Jefferson  had  had  a  great  fortune  he  would 
have  spent  his  life  painting  pictures,  for  he  believed 
that  he  was  meant  to  be  a  painter. 

He  was  not  meant  to  be  a  painter ;  if  his  life  had  been, 
devoted  to  painting  it  would  have  been  wasted. 

How  lucky  that  he  was  not  rich  enough  to  be  able 
to  waste  his  life ! 


Often  the  world  marvels  that  the  sons  of  great  and 
successful  men  accomplish  so  little. 

The  world  is  foolish.  It  should  marvel  that  the  sons 
of  the  rich  accomplish  anything  at  all. 

For  genius  has  truly  been  called  the  capacity  to  take 
infinite  pains.  It  is  the  splendid  fruit  that  grows  on 
the  tree  of  hard  work. 

Infinite  pains  and  hard  work  are  distasteful  to  human 
beings.  They  are  avoided  by  those  who  can  avoid  them. 
It  is  lucky  for  the  world  that  the  number  of  those  who 
can  shirk  is  limited. 


Dryden  tells  you  in  four  lines  what  the  actual  man 
would  amount  to  if  he  had  his  way. 

169 


"My  next  desire  is,  void  of  care  and  strife, 
To  lead  a  soft,  secure,  inglorious  life. 
A  country  cottage  near  a  crystal  flood, 
A  •winding  valley  and  a  lofty  wood." 

Every  man  who  could  afford  it  would  live  for  him- 
self, to  indulge  some  useless  little  tenth-rate  part  of  his 
brain  activity. 


The  world  progresses  because  the  wisdom  of  the 
universe  compels  every  man  to  work  directly  or  in- 
directly for  every  other  man. 

If  we  had  our  way,  if  hard  necessity  did  not  compel 
us  to  do  the  disagreeable  work  for  which  we  are  fitted, 
we  should  all  live  for  ourselves;  we  should  all  be  mere 
human  sponges,  absorbing  personal  gratification — the 
progress  of  the  human  race  would  stop. 

Let  this  fact  console  you  when  you  contemplate  with 
bitterness  the  few  who  accumulate  great  fortunes. 

You  are  a  disappointed  drop  in  a  great  ocean  of  use- 
ful human  beings.  The  interest  of  the  whole  ocean 
demands  that  you  and  the  vast  majority  of  all  o*-her 
drops  should  fail  to  get  what  you  crave — 

The  opportunity  to  he  useless. 


PLAIN  LIVING 


Goodness,  normal,  plain  living  pay  best  in  th<i  J^ng 
run. 

The  real  pleasures  are  simple  pleasures,  within  ^he 
reach  of  simple  people. 


170 


Those  Who  Laugh  at  a 
Drunken  Man 

How  often  have  you  seen  a  drunken  man  stagger  along 
the  street! 

His  clothes  are  soiled  from  falling,  his  face  is  bruised, 
his  eyes  are  dull.  Sometimes  he  curses  the  boys  that 
tease  him.  Sometimes  he  tries  to  smile,  in  a  drunken 
effort  to  placate  pitiless,  childish  cruelty. 

His  body,  worn  out,  can  stand  no  more,  and  he 
mumbles  that  he  is  going  home. 

The  children  persecute  him,  throw  things  at  him, 
laugh  at  him,  running  ahead  of  him. 

Grown  m-en  and  women,  too,  often  laugh  with  the 
children,  nudge  each  other,  and  actually  find  humor  in 
the  sight  of  a  human  being  sunk  below  the  lowest 
animal. 

The  sight  of  a  drunken  man  going  home  should  make 
every  other  man  and  woman  sad  and  sympathetic,  and, 
horrible  as  the  sight  is,  it  should  be  usef  al,  by  inspiring, 
in  those  who  see  it,  a  determination  to  avoid  and  to  help 
others  avoid  that  man's  fate. 


That  reeling  drunkard  is  going  Jiome. 

He  is  going  home  to  children  who  are  afraid  of  him, 
to  a  wife  whose  life  he  has  made  miserable. 

He  is  going  home,  taking  with  him  the  worst  curse 
in  the  world — to  suffer  bitter  remorse  himself  after 
having  inflicted  suffering  on  those  whom  he  should 
protect. 

171 


And  as  he  goes  home  nien  and  women,  knowing  what 
the  hom-e<oming  m-eans,  laugh  at  him  and  enjoy  tJve 
sight. 


In  the  old  days  in  the  arena  it  occasionally  happened 
that  brothers  were  set  to  fight  each  other.  When  they 
refused  to  fight  they  were  forced  to  it  by  red-hot  irons 
applied  to  their  backs. 

AVe  have  progressed  beyond  the  moral  condition  of 
human  beings  guilty  of  such  brutality  as  that.  But  we 
cannot  call  ourselves  civilized  while  our  imaginations 
and  sympathies  are  so  dull  that  the  reeling  drunkard 
is  thought  an  amusing  spectacle. 


THOUGHT  AND  GOLD 


One  ^gle  thought  can  be  worth  more  than  all  the 
gold  mines  of  the  world  put  together. 

All  the  gold  of  the  United  States  is  not  worth  one- 
quarter  of  the  the)ught  that  resulted  in  the  steam  engine, 
or  the  thought  that  harnessed  electric  power  and  the 
waterfall. 


A  BOOK  TO  READ 

Read  Charles  the  Twelfth's  history  written  by 
Voltaire,  if  you  want  to  spend  a  few  hours  usefully.  It 
is  only  one  short  volume,  the  best  history  of  one  man 
ever  written. 


172 


Law  Cannot  Stop  Drunkenness 
— Education  Can 

Everybody  knows  that  until  recently  the  average 
statesman,  the  majority  of  prominent  men,  in  England, 
drank  to  excess. 

Pitt  was  a  drunkard — and  Pitt  was  the  most  remark- 
able statesman  in  England. 

Fox  was  a  drunkard. 

In  fact,  to  write  a  list  of  England's  greatest  men, 
who  lived  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  would  be  to 
make  a  list  of  famous  drunkards. 

Today  the  drunkard  in  public  life  is  practically  un- 
known in  England,  as  well  as  in  America.  No  legal 
pressure  has  been  brought  to  bear  upon  the  prosperous 
drunkard. 

He  was  not  badgered  by  policemen  or  by  blue- 
laws. 

He  could  get  all  that  he  wanted  to  drink  whenever  he 
■wanted  it — yet,  of  his  own  accord,  the  prosperous 
drunkard  has  reformed  and  become  temperate. 


Our  own  great  Daniel  Webster  was  a  drunkard,  as 
were  many  other  great  Americans.  No  man  today  could 
be  a  drunkard  and  at  the  same  time  be  respected. 

Education,  experience  and  common  sense  have  done 
their  work,  and  drunkenness  is  now  left  to  self-indulgent 
fools,  or  to  those  whose  lives  are  made  dull  by  poverty, 
to  whom  alcohol  affords  the  only  escape  from  horrible 
monotony. 

173 


It  would,  perhaps,  be  worth  while  for  the  advocates 
of  temperance  to  study  the  causes  which  have  practically 
eliminated  drunkenness  from  the  most  intelligent  classes 
of  men. 

Education  undoubtedly  is  the  greatest  factor. 

In  nearly  aU  the  public  schools  now  the  evil  effects 
of  alcohol  are  taught. 

These  evil  effects  are  taught,  not  in  a  lackadaisical 
way,  with  sentiment  or  religious  duty  as  a  basis.  They 
are  taught  as  facts. 

Facts  appeal  to  the  mind,  and  they  persist  in  their 
effect  in  later  life,  when  moral  suasion  and  religious 
appeals  are  forgotten. 

Teach  every  child  that  alcohol  destroys  his  chances 
of  success,  impairs  his  muscular  efficiency,  inflames  the 
substance  of  the  brain  and  prevents  development — make 
JUm  feel  that  a  drinking  mam,  is  a  second-class  man,  and 
you  imll  have  done  much  to  destroy  the  drunkenness  of 
the  future. 


As  a  matter  of  fact,  drunkenness,  like  dirt,  is  mainly 
an  accompaniment  of  poverty  and  a  sad,  hopeless  life. 

For  the  man  or  woman  given  to  drinking,  when  the 
troubles  of  life  are  no  longer  to  be  borne,  some  relief 
must  be  had. 

Make  the  lives  of  human  beings  more  comfortable, 
make  good  food  more  plentiful,  spread  education — and 
you  will  solve  the  problem  of  excessive  drinking. 


174 


Woman  Sustains,  Guides  and 
Controls  the  World 

Of  all  events  here  on  earth,  the  greatest  is  the  birth 
of  a  baby.  Great  battles  are  fought,  won  and  lost. 
Nations  and  religions  rise  and  fall.  Great  cities  flourish 
today,  and  tomorrow  the  sand  lies  heavy  over  them. 
And  of  all  these  events  the  eternal  Niagara  of  new 
babies  is  the  first  and  essential  foundation. 

He  knows  little  of  real  life,  its  greatest  happiness, 
deepest  devotion,  intensest  suffering,  who  has  never 
witnessed  the  arrival  of  a  new  human  being  in  this  life 
of  progress  and  struggle. 

There  lies  the  new  baby  at  last,  its  black  face  gradu- 
ally turning  pink,  its  first  gasping  breaths  changing 
the  color  of  its  blood,  its  tiny  fists  opening  and  closing 
— reaching  out  for  nourishment  already,  its  face  tying 
itself  into  the  first  philosophical,  cosmos-interrogating 
knot.  Its  feet  turn  inward  and  its  legs  are  crooked. 
Its  head  is  so  shapeless  as  to  discourage  any  one  but 
a  mother;  it  has  three  years  of  gurgling,  ten  years  of 
childhood,  ten  years  of  foolishness,  ten  years  of  vanity 
— and  possibly  a  few  years  of  real  usefulness  ahead 
of  it. 

Some  one  must  be  patient,  hopeful,  interested,  proud, 
never  discouraged,  always  devoted,  through  all  these 
years. 

That  **some  one,*'  the  mother,  lies  there  weak  and 
white  on  the  bed. 

Her  forehead  and  all  her  body  are  wet  with  agony — 
but  she  thinks  no  longer  of  that. 

175 


She  has  heard  her  baby's  first  cry,  and  whether  it 
be  her  first  or  her  tenth,  the  feeling  is  the  same.  Her 
feeble,  outstretched  arms  and  her  hollow,  loving  eyes 
are  turned  toward  the  helpless  little  creature. 

Those  arms  and  that  love  will  never  desert  it  as  long 
as  the  mother  shall  live. 

The  mother's  weak  hand  supports  the  heavy,  dull 
baby  head  and  guides  it  to  its  rest  on  her  breast. 

And  that  hand  which  supports  the  head  of  the  new- 
bom  baby,  the  mother's  hand,  supports  the  civilization 
of  the  world. 


MEAN  IT! 


The  police  can  easily  stop  reckless  automobile  driving. 
Fine  the  driver  one  hundred  dollars.  Take  away  his 
license  for  at  least  one  year.  Let  it  be  known  that  there 
will  be  no  exceptions.  No  man  puts  his  hand  on  a 
red-hot  stove.  The  trouble  is  the  stove  of  justice  is 
usually  quite  cool  and  doesn't  burn  anybody. 


176 


Two  Kinds  of  Discontent 

Emerson  says: 

*  *  Discontent  is  the  want  of  self-reliance ;  it  is  infirmity  of  will. ' ' 

Another  individual,  at  least  as  solemn  if  not  as  wise 
as  Emerson,  says : 

''Discontent  is  the  foundation  of  all  human  effort.'' 

Both  are  right,  for  there  are  two  kinds  of  discontent. 

Almost  everybody  is  afflicted  with  one  kind  of  dis- 
content or  the  other. 

It  would  be  well  for  you,  Mr.  Reader,  to  decide  what 
kind  of  discontent  afflicts  you.  If  you  have  the  wrong" 
kind,  hurry  and  get  the  other  as  fast  as  possible. 

THE  DISCONTENT  THAT  WHINES 

This  is  the  kind  of  discontent  which  Emerson  refers 
to  when  he  says  that  "discontent  is  the  want  of  self- 
reliance." 

The  whining  discontent  ruins  many  lives;  it  is  used 
as  the  excuse  for  much  foolish  conduct,  much  neglect 
of  duty. 

It  is  the  discontent  which  reflects  the  feeble  soul,  the 
self-indulgent,  worthless  being. 

A  young  man  who  gets  drunk  or  dissipates  other- 
wise,  who  offers  as  an  excuse,  ''Well,  I  was  feeling  kinc 
of  discontented  and  had  to  do  something,"  is  afflicted 
with  the  wi'ong  kind  of  discontent  in  its  most  virulent 
form. 

177 


The  office  boy  with  small  wages  who  is  caught  smoking 
cigarettes,  or  evading  his  duties,  or  undermining  his 
moral  character  by  gambling,  will  also  say,  **I  was  dis- 
contented and  had  to  do  something.'* 

If  you  have  that  discontent,  try  to  get  rid  of  it  and 
get  the  other  kind. 

THE   DISCONTENT   THAT   MEANS   AMBITION 

Alexander  the  Great  lived  and  died  discontented,  but 
Emerson  would  scarcely  have  attributed  that  gentle- 
man's discontent  to  lack  of  self-reliance. 

Alexander  was  discontented,  first,  because  he  could 
not  conquer  the  whole  world,  and,  second,  because  there 
were  no  others  that  he  could  conquer.  He  was  a  vast 
genius,  almost  humorous  in  his  ambitious  discontent 
sometimes — especially  when  he  looked  at  the  stars  and 
said,  as  alleged,  that  he  was  ashamed  to  look  at  all  those 
other  worlds  when  he  had  barely  conquered  this  one 
little  world  that  he  lived  on. 

If  you  have  in  you  Alexander's  brand  of  discontent 
you  may  well  be  grateful. 

You  are  still  more  to  be  envied  if  you  have  the  dis- 
content which  has  impelled  thousands  of  great  men  to 
devote  their  lives  ceaselessly  to  the  discovery  of  truth, 
workino^  for  others. 


When  Taglioni,  the  great  ballet  dancer,  was  a  little 
girl,  with  skinny  legs  and  a  skinnier  future,  being  ex- 
tremely homely  and  with  no  prospects  of  success,  she 
•'vas  discontented. 

Other  skinny-legged  little  ballet  dancers  of  her  clas^ 
vreve  discontented  also. 

178 


But  Taglioni's  discontent  impelled  her  to  spend  every 
spare  moment  whirling  on  her  big  toe,  practicing  her 
entrechat,  or  laboring  over  the  art  of  smiling,  naturally, 
with  aching  toes,  aching  back,  aching  thighs,  and  solar 
plexus  almost  exhausted  from  the  unnatural  strain. 

The  other  skinny-legged  discontented  ones  exercised 
their  discontent  on  their  patient  mothers,  instead  of 
exercising  it  on  their  own  big  toes.  They  never  were 
heard  of,  whereas  Taglioni  pranced  on  her  big  toe  before 
every  court  in  Europe,  and  her  smile,  which  ultimately 
became  natural,  attracted  the  opera  glasses  of  all  the 
great  men. 

There  are  thousands  of  young  musicians,  young  busi- 
ness men,  young  singers,  young  electricians — thousands 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  human  beings  engaged  in 
all  kinds  of  effort  in  all  directions. 

AU  of  them  are  discontented.  Those  that  have  the 
right  kind  of  discontent  will  go  at  least  as  far  as  their 
natural  capacity  can  take  them,  and  those  that  have  the 
wrong  kind  will  collapse,  achieve  nothing  and  devote 
wasted  lives  to  wasting  pity  on  themselves. 


Try  to  acquire  the  discontent  of  Alexander,  Carlyle, 
Paganini,  Taglioni,  or  even  that  of  the  honest  boot- 
black who  * '  shines  them  up "  so  hard  that  the  perspira- 
tion comes  through  his  check  jumper  in  cold  weather. 


179 


The  Earth  is  Only  a  Front  Yard 

The  philosophers,  political  economists,  lawmakers, 
editors,  sociologists,  and  all  the  other  would-be  deep 
thinkers  of  this  earth,  are  really  engaged  in  a  pretty 
small  business. 

We  are  like  a  swarm  of  human  beings  cast  away  on 
some  desert  island.  This  earth  is  our  island,  a  little 
island  in  space,  and  it  is  a  desert  island  and  a  badly 
arranged  island  in  more  ways  than  one.  Many  of  us 
lack  good  dwellings,  some  of  us  lack  food,  all  of  us  are 
worried  about  the  future.  The  island  is  infested  with 
mosquitoes  and  with  diseases  that  we  have  not  learned 
to  conquer.  There  are  many  criminals  on  it  that  prey 
upon  the  honest  people — criminals  at  the  top  and 
criminals  at  the  bottom  of  society. 

And  all  of  those  who  think  and  sympathize  with  their 
fellow  creatures  are  busy  with  the  problem  of  putting 
things  right  on  this  little  desert  island  that  carries  us 
along  in  the  wake  of  the  sun. 

Most  of  us  imagine  that  the  most  important  work  for 
men  is  the  organization  of  life  on  this  little  planet. 
That  is  a  very  small  and  mean  idea  of  man 's  real  destiny. 

"When  a  man  builds  a  house,  the  planning  of  sanitary 
arrangements  must  first  be  attended  to.  After  that 
begin  the  real  life  and  the  real  interests.  That  real  life 
and  those  real  interests  are  not  confined  to  the  front 
yard  or  the  back  yard  of  the  man  that  owns  the 
house. 

180 


So  it  will  be  some  day  with  us  wlio  are  now  engaged 
in  the  detailed  organization  of  the  little  home  which  we 
call  the  earth.  We  are  fixing  up  our  moral  plumbing — 
fighting  poverty,  injustice,  and,  above  all,  ignorance. 
We  are  fighting  the  meanness  that  comes  of  competition 
and  the  greater  meanness  that  is  based  upon  the  dread 
of  poverty  in  the  future.  Some  of  us  are  piling  up  mil- 
lions that  we  can  never  use,  while  others  suffer  for  lack 
of  that  which  could  be  abundantly  supplied. 

All  these  little  earthly  questions  that  seem  so  big  will 
be  settled  in  time. 

But  a  few  years  in  the  sight  of  Time — a  few  hundred 
centuries,  perhaps,  as  we  count  them — and  our  earthly 
habitation  will  have  been  made  fit  to  live  in.  We  shall 
have  eliminated  the  unfit — not  by  killing  them  off,  but 
by  educating  them.  We  shall  have  solved  the  question 
of  poverty  by  solving  the  question  of  production,  and 
especially  of  distribution.  We  shall  have  developed  a 
citizenship  capable  of  earnest  work,  of  sobriety  and  of 
moral  decency,  without  the  spur  of  want,  imprisonment 
or  the  scaffold  as  necessary  adjuncts. 

In  time  the  human  race  will  have  solved  its  little  prob- 
lems here — the  problems  that  seem  so  vast  to-day. 

When  that  time  comes  we  shall  be  like  the  man  who 
has  put  his  house  in  order,  and  our  thoughts  will  not  be 
confined  to  this  little  piece  of  ground.  Then  we  shall 
appreciate  the  cosmic  wisdom  which  has  divided  our  day 
into  darkness  and  light — the  light  for  the  enjoyment  of 
the  material  beauties  of  our  earthly  home ;  the  night  for 
the  study  and  enjoyment  of  the  vast,  mysterious  universe 
spread  out  around  us. 

Everybody  knows  that  the  aged  require  less  sleep  than 
the  young.    In  the  future,  this  will  make  old  age  what 

181 


it  ought  to  be,  a  blessing,  because  it  will  give  to  the  old 
more  hours  of  the  night  for  contemplation  of  the  Infinite 
and  all  its  wonders. 

Those  of  us  who  now  think  themselves  very  abstract 
when  they  speculate  on  the  North  Pole,  or  when  they 
discuss  the  possibility  of  reclaiming  the  Desert  of  Sahara, 
will  have  their  minds  many  millions  of  miles  away  from 
this  earth  a  great  deal  of  the  time. 

We  shall  communicate,  perhaps,  with  our  sister-planet, 
Venus — the  planet  most  like  ours  in  physical  arrange- 
ment. We  shall  be  intensely  interested  in  that  world, 
where  it  is  always  night  on  one  side  of  the  planet,  and 
always  day  on  the  other. 

We  shall  realize  with  deepest  envy  the  fact  that  the 
constant,  terrific  currents  of  air  whirling  around  Venus, 
in  consequence  of  the  extreme  heat  and  the  extreme  cold 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  planet,  have  developed  a  race 
as  far  superior  to  us  as  the  trout  in  the  swift-flowing 
brook  is  superior  to  the  heavy-eyed  catfish  in  the  bottom 
of  the  pond. 


We  shall  humbly  beg  for  information  from  the  supe- 
rior inhabitants  of  other  worlds,  and  perhaps  wait  with 
impatience  for  release  from  duty  here,  which  shall  take 
us  to  a  higher  planetary  existence.  If  we  look  backward 
at  all,  we  shall  consider  our  present  selves  simply  as 
refined  cannibals,  who  lived  upon  the  labor  and  the  suf- 
fering of  our  fellows  instead  of  feeding  upon  their 
bodies. 


It  may  seem  ridiculous  to  predict  that  the  time  will 
come  when  the  intelligent  man's  interests  will  be  nearly 
all  outside  of  the  earth  on  which  he  lives. 

182 


But  to  the  savage  of  the  Congo,  squatted  beside  a 
decaying  hippopotamus,  gorging  himself  with  the  meat, 
with  not  a  thought  beyond  that  carcass  or  beyond  the 
edge  of  the  river,  it  would  seem  preposterous  to  speak  of 
men  whose  interests  range  out  over  the  entire  world. 

We  look  upon  a  man  as  very  small  to-day  unless  all 
knowledge  interests  him,  unless  his  mind  roams  daily 
all  over  the  civilized  globe,  sharing  in  the  interests  of 
all  nations,  in  the  literature,  the  discoveries  and  the 
activities  of  all  nations. 

To-day  we,  with  our  minds  on  little,  material  prob- 
lems, our  thoughts  centred  on  this  one  little  planet,  as 
we  lead  our  selfish  lives,  are  like  that  Congo  savage 
hacking  away  at  the  dead  hippopotamus. 

When  night  comes,  we  shut  our  eyes  like  the  chickens, 
waiting  for  the  light  that  means  money-making  or 
pleasure  of  the  senses ;  or  we  go  to  theatres  or  to  balls, 
or  elsewhere,  to  shut  out  as  far  as  possible  all  knowledge 
of  that  marvelous,  unlimited  creation  to  which  we  be- 
long, and  which  it  is  our  greatest  privilege  feebly  to 
study. 


The  geography  class  of  the  future  will  be  a  class  in 
astronomy.  The  real  problems  of  the  future  will  be  the 
problems  outside  of  this  earth,  and  the  real  interests  of 
the  future  will  be  interests  connected  with  the  universe 
at  large. 

We  shall  make  of  this  earth  a  beautiful  garden,  inhab- 
ited by  safe,  happy  human  beings.  We  shall  take  pride 
in  it,  and  enjoy  it  by  day.  Our  intellectual  lives  will 
begin  with  the  going  do\sTi  of  the  sun  and  the  gradual 
appearance  of  those  mighty  neighbors  in  space  that 
alone  will  interest  the  thinking  man  of  future  days. 

183 


The  Cow  That  Kicks  Her  Weaned 
Calf  is  All  Heart 

An  estimable  and  very  intelligent  lady  criticises  mod- 
ern education,  saying,  * '  So  much,  brain  is  forced  into  the 
girl  nowadays  that  it  crowds  out  her  heart. ' ' 


At  the  risk  of  shattering  the  foundations  of  romance 
and  poetry,  it  must  be  said  here  once  and  for  all  that 
the  heart  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  emotions. 
It  is  simply  a  pump,  and  a  large  part  of  its  work  con- 
sists in  pumping  blood  to  the  brain.  The  greater  the 
brain,  the  greater  and  more  active  the  heart  must  be.  A 
serpent,  with  little  or  no  brain  and  a  cold  disposition  all 
around,  gets  along  very  nicely  with  little  or  no  heart. 

Those  who  speak  of  the  heart  as  opposed  to  the  mind 
mean  to  speak  of  unreasoning  sentiment  as  opposed  to 
intellectual  strength. 

The  lady  quoted  and  many  others  say  that  the  woman 
and  mother  should  be  all  affection,  and  that  development 
of  the  mind  diminishes  the  affection. 

We  wish  to  lay  down  a  few  rules ;  we  invite  criticism. 

The  best  thing,  the  only  important  thing  about  a 
woman,  a  man,  a  baby,  or  any  other  human  being,  is 
the  intellect. 

Affection  is  a  beautiful  thing,  but  affection  is  horn  in 
the  brain  and  confined  to  the  brain. 

A  young  woman  looks  at  a  splendid  creature  in  a 
soldier's  uniform.    Her  heart  beats  fast,  and  she  imag- 

184 


ines,  as  all  antiquity  has  imagined,  that  the  heart  is  the 
seat  of  the  emotions.    Nonsense ! 

The  emotion  is  in  the  hrcdn,  which  has  just  received, 
through  the  optic  nerve,  a  conception  of  the  lovely  vision 
in  brass  buttons.  The  heart  is  ordered  to  pump  more 
blood  to  the  head  of  the  young  girl,  to  supply  mental 
activity  and  the  becoming  blush. 

If  you  hear  bad  news  you  feel  the  effect  on  your 
heart ;  sometimes  you  fall  unconscious.  That  is  because 
the  brain  sensation  is  so  strong  as  to  interfere  with  the 
heart's  action.  You  feel  the  shock  that  the  brain  sends 
to  the  heart. 


The  idea  that  cultivation  of  the  mind  interferes  with 
a  woman's  moral,  sentimental,  or  motherly  qualities  is 
foolish  twaddle. 

The  idea  that  mere  sentiment,  ignorant,  vague  affec- 
tion are  sufficient  without  education  to  make  a  first-class 
human  mother  is  false  and  feeble. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  cow  follow  the  wagon  that  car- 
ries her  calf  to  the  butcher  shop  ?  It  is  a  very  sad  sight, 
the  plaintive  lowing  of  the  poor  mother  as  she  follows 
behind  begging  for  her  child  to  be  restored.  Every 
farmer  knows  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  hitching  the 
cow  to  the  wagon  w^hen  her  calf  is  inside.  She  will 
follow  that  calf  until  she  drops. 

There  is  your  loving,  devoted  mother  without  educa- 
tion. The  cow's  heart,  to  use  the  old  expression,  is  all 
right.  Her  mental  equipment  is  perfectly  suited  to  a 
cow.  Nature  and  society  require  that  she  should  give 
the  utmost  love  to  her  calf  this  year,  and  give  all  of 
that  same  love  to  another  calf  next  year. 

185 


Bring  back  in  three  months  that  calf  that  she  follows 
now  with  such  pitiful  appeals.  If  the  weaned  calf  tries 
to  re-establish  the  old  relationship,  its  mother,  **all  heart 
and  no  head,"  will  kick  it  in  the  ribs  and  then  butt  it 
across  the  lot. 


It 's  all  right  for  the  cow  to  be  all  heart  and  no  head ; 
she  does  not  need  the  higher  education. 

It  is  all  right  for  the  humble  savage  mother  in  the 
dark  African  jungle  to  be  built  on  the  same  lines.  Like 
the  cow,  all  that  she  has  to  do  is  to  take  care  of  the  baby 
until  it  is  able  to  run  around  and  forage  for  itself. 

But  the  civilized  mother,  the  woman  who  must  do  her 
duty  in  the  present  and  in  the  future  as  well,  requires 
a  good  mind,  love  based  upon  knowledge  and  a  sense  of 
justice,  affection  that  follows  the  child  from  the  cradle 
to  maturity,  gradually  substituting  for  intense  motherly 
physical  care  an  equally  intense  and  loving  intellectual 
companionship  and  guidance. 


It  is  important,  of  course,  that  mothers  of  all  kinds, 
human  or  animal,  should  be  cheerful,  and  above  all 
healthy,  able  to  feed  their  babies  themselves  and  feed 
them  well. 

But  as  the  brain  in  a  human  being  is  above  the 
stomach,  so  the  intellect  in  a  mother  is  above  the  mere 
maternal  affection  inspired  by  babyhood. 

The  great  mothers  are  those  who,  when  they  cease 
feeding  the  child's  body,  can  begin  to  feed  the  child's 
brain. 

The  great  men  are  great,  and  they  were  lucky,  because 
they  had  mothers  who  did  not  cease  to  feed  them  when 

186 


they  were  weaned,  but  kept  on  feeding  them  mentally 
into  their  manhood. 


The  woman  with  a  big  brain  is  the  best  in  every  way. 

She  is  better  before  she  is  married,  for  she  attracts 
the  man  of  intelligence,  and  establishes  a  family  of 
intelligent  beings. 

She  is  better  as  a  young  wife,  because  the  ambition 
and  intelligence  in  her  call  out  the  ambition  and  intelli- 
gence in  her  husband. 

Hers  is  the  happy  home  that  needs  no  divorce  lawyer. 
Pink  cheeks,  small  feet,  squeezed  waists,  curly  hair  and 
such  things  disappear  or  get  tiresome.  And  all  pink 
cheeks  are  very  much  alike,  as  Dr.  Johnson  said  of  the 
green  fields. 

But  intelligence  never  gets  tiresome;  no  two  brains 
are  ever  at  all  alike  if  well  developed.  A  woman  of 
intelligence  always  develops  new  qualities ;  she  can  never 
be  monotonous. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  too  much  education,  although 
educating  us  primitive  men  and  women  is  apt  to  develop 
\mexpected  littleness,  and  thus  create  prejudice. 


Note  this  important  fact:  The  bigger  the  brain,  the 
bigger  the  heart,  not  only  physically,  but  sentimentally 
and  morally.  It  takes  brain  to  feel  real  emotion ;  a  well- 
developed  mind  to  develop  real  sentiment,  real  affection. 

A  foolish,  ignorant  young  woman  may  be  pleasant 
enough  to  look  at,  but  she  is  like  a  white,  pink-eyed 
rabbit — ornamental,  but  a  poor  companion. 


187 


Woman's  Vanity  is  Useful 

We'll  waste  no  time  in  proving  that  women,  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave,  at  all  hours  and  all  ages,  are 
sincerely  interested  in  their  personal  appearance. 

No  man  should  object  to  this — the  constitutional 
guarantee  referring  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness  covers  the  ground  fully. 

But  it  is  not  enough  for  men  not  to  object  to  woman 's 
various  innocent  vanities. 

Every  man  should  be  delighted  that  women  are  vain. 
Each  man  should  do  what  he  can  to  keep  the  vanity  alive. 

For  woftian's  vanity,  deaiiy  beloved,  is  the  one  and 
indispensable  preserver  of  her  health. 

A  woman  cannot  be  pretty,  according  to  her  own 
notions,  unless  healthy. 

If  too  fat,  she  is  not  pretty — and  she  is  miserable 
until,  through  self-control,  she  gets  thin. 

If  too  thin,  she  is  not  pretty.  At  present  she  has  a 
crazy  sort  of  idea  that  to  be  *' skinny"  is  to  be  attractive. 
That  is  a  passing  delusion.  In  the  long  run  women  real- 
ize that  there  is  nothing  beautiful  about  a  female  living 
skeleton,  and  they  strive  through  normal  living  to 
become  normal. 

Above  all,  no  woman  can  have  a  good  complexion 
unless  she  have  good  health  and  live  normally.  This 
one  absorbing  question  of  complexion  does  more  for 
woman's  health;  it  gives  us  more  strong  mothers,  and 
more  sensible  girls,  than  all  the  preachings,  beseechings, 

188 


prayers  and  expostulations  of  all  the  world's  male 
advisers. 

A  woman's  instinct  is  to  eat  buckwheat  cakes,  adding 
boiling  hot  coffee  and  iced  water.  She  likes  to  eat  candy- 
between  meals,  and  her  idea  of  a  fine  luncheon  is  lobster 
salad  and  ice  cream.  But  small  spots  appear.  Those 
fine  pink  cheeks  get  too  pink  or  too  pale,  and  sensible 
eating  is  adopted  as  a  life  rule. 

Even  the  hideous  corset  squeezing  is  counteracted  by 
the  power  of  complexion.  Woman  likes  to  look  like  a 
wasp,  and  if  she  could  she  would  move  her  poor  system 
all  out  of  place  for  the  sake  of  a  waist  hideously  small. 

But,  providentially,  a  waist  squeezed  too  mercilessly 
gives  a  bright  pink  tip  to  the  end  of  the  nose;  and  for 
the  sake  of  the  color  of  that  nose-tip  the  poor  waist  gets 
a  rest — the  corset  is  let  out. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  among  idle,  nervous  women 
to-day  there  is  a  tendency  to  take  stimulants  to  excess, 
and  even  to  smoke  abominable  cigarettes. 

Alcohol,  fortunately,  ruins  the  complexion.  And  for 
the  sake  of  their  looks  women  often  deny  themselves 
and  show  a  strength  of  resolution  that  would  not  be 
called  forth  by  any  moral  appeal. 

Cigarettes  in  short  order  make  the  face  sallow,  spoil 
the  shape  of  the  mouth,  make  the  eyes  heavy,  fill  the  hair 
with  permanently  unpleasant  nicotine  suggestions,  de- 
velop a  mustache — and  women  are  cured  of  cigarette 
smoking  by  a  look  in  the  glass,  when  they  could  not  be 
cured  by  tearful  appeals  of  the  Avisest  philosophers. 


Do  not,  therefore,  0  men,  despise  the  vanity  of  women. 
Praise  and  cherish  it  rather.     Be  grateful  that  nature 

189 


works  in  a  wonderful  way  through  the  power  of  attrac* 
tion,  making  woman  do  for  good  looks'  sake  that  which 
is  most  important  to  her  welfare. 

If  you  want  to  cure  your  wife  or  some  other  female 
relative  of  lacing,  don't  moralize.  Say  to  her  six  or 
seven  times : 

** Isn't  the  end  of  your  nose  a  little  red?'* 

Should  she  act  in  any  way  unwisely,  staying  up  too 
late,  living  foolishly,  trying  the  silly  and  unwomanly 
habit  of  cigarette  smoking,  don't  criticise  the  habit. 

Criticise  her  complexion,  or  the  look  of  her  eyes,  o? 
her  general  lack  of  youthfulness.  She  will  soon  be 
cured,  if  you  can  follow  this  advice  astutely. 


190 


Too  Little  and  Too  Much 

Here  is  a  quotation  from  a  very  wise  person  called 

Aristotle. 

This  Greek  philosopher  was  the  teacher  of  Alexander 

the  Great,  and  incidentally  he  has  been  the  teacher  of 

millions  of  men  since  he  began  to  talk  philosophy,  more 

than  twenty  centuries  ago. 

* '  First  of  all,  we  must  observe  that  in  all  these  matters  of 
hiiii,dn  action  the  too  little  and  the  too  much  are  alike  ruinous, 
as  ve  can  see  (to  illustrate  the  spiritual  by  the  natural)  in  the 
case  of  strength  and  health.  Too  much  and  too  little  exercise 
alike  impair  the  strength,  and  too  much  meat  and  drink  and 
too  httle  both  alike  destroy  the  health,  but  the  fitting  amount 
produces  and  preserves  them.  .  .  .  So,  too,  the  man  who  takes 
his  fiil  of  every  pleasure  and  abstains  from  none  becomes  a 
pro-ligate;  while  he  who  shuns  all  becomes  stolid  and 
insukceptible. ' ' 

The  next  time  you  fall  into  a  philosophical  mood,  and 
begin  reviewing  the  causes  of  your  troubles,  see  if  you 
cau't  find  some  useful  suggestion  in  the  common-sense 
statement  of  Aristotle  we  give  to-day. 

How  about  the  ''too  much"  of  one  thing  and  ''too 
little"  of  another? 

Are  you  quite  sure  that  you  don't  do  too  much  talking 
and  too  little  thinking  ? 

Are  you  sure  that  you  don't  do  too  much  drinking 
and  playing  and  idling,  and  too  little  reading? 

Are  you  sure  that  you  don't  do  too  much  of  things 
you  like  that  do  you  no  good,  and  too  little  of  things 

191 


that  you  ought  to  like,  and  that  would  help  you  to 
succeed  1 


We  believe  that  every  one  of  our  readers  has  some 
friend  or  brother  or  son  who  can  be  really  helped  by  the 
reading  of  this  quotation  from  the  old  Greek  wise  man. 

You  can  state  to  any  young  man  or  woman  to  whom 
you  send  this  advice  that  the  man  who  gave  it  formed 
the  character  and  judgment  of  Alexander,  the  world's 
most  successful  young  man. 


The  Japanese  centuries  ago  decided  on  an  embargo. 
To  be  found  crossing  the  Japanese  frontier  with  silk- 
worms or  the  eggs  of  silkworms  was  punished  by  death. 

The  wise  Japanese  says:  **We  have  the  worms  that 
make  the  silk,  that  makes  us  rich.  We  want  these  worms, 
let's  keep  them." 

That's  how  the  Japanese  have  built  up  the  great  silk 
industry 


There  is  such  a  thing  as  training  the  mind  to  wise 
thinking.  Good  resolutions  do  it.  To  do  anything 
worth  while,  a  man  must  plan  it,  think  about  it  and  re 
solve  to  do  it,  thousands  of  times. 


Start  a  ' 'thought  diary." 

Write  one  thought  each  day  in  a  diary — don't  trouble 
to  write  details  that  won't  live. 

A  diary  with  a  thought  every  day  would  be  valuable 
and  give  you  in  old  age  an  interesting  mirror  of  your 
life. 


192 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  N  C   AT  CHAPF'   HILL 

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